The North Ward Center Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 237133263
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2010–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Newark, NJ, USA
- Phone
- 9734810415
- Rating
- 76
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Human Service Organizations
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $20,867,076
- Expenses
- $18,281,014
- Assets
- $78,722,305
- Liabilities
- $1,840,831
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
13 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- CAROLYN GRANATO (TRUSTEE, BOARD PRESIDENT)
- MARY VELEZ (TRUSTEE - VICE PRESIDENT/T)
- MICHELE ADUBATO (CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER)
Highest reported compensation
- MICHELE ADUBATO (CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER): $312,117 total reported compensation
- MICHELE SCEPPAGUERCIO (CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER): $266,158 total reported compensation
- JENNIFER REINHARDT (DIRECTOR): $156,421 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
The mission of the north ward center, inc. - building a better community by educating, advocating, and empowering families
What it reported doing in 2024
Recognizing the value that organized recreation offers inner city youth, the north ward center offers a year round program that provides hands on athletic development, teamwork skills and sportsmanship for nearly 3,000 children. The center's youth development and recreation program is the largest program of its kind in newark, New Jersey. Structured around the principles of learning the basic skills of basketball, baseball and softball, boys and girls acquire leadership skills, understand the value of cooperating with their peers and coaches and practice healthy lifestyle habits.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Grant-funded. 60% of the money available for current operations came from government grants.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The filing allocates 100% of reported program-service expenses outside its grant, affiliate-payment, and member-benefit lines. This expense classification does not rule out separately announced grant awards.
The verdict
SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and most voting board members are independent. Few specific pay-setting methods are documented in the filing; unanswered boxes are not proof of absence and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 90
- Transparency & Controls: 56
- Accountability: 82
- Sustainability: 72
- Growth: 60
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 91.3%; rating input score 91
- Program expense ratio: 92.6%; rating input score 93
- Fundraising efficiency: $53.61 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 77; 77th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 93.3%; rating input score 93; 14th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 0 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 0
- Compensation committee: Missing
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
- Written employment contract: Missing
- Compensation survey or study: Missing
- Board or committee approval: Missing
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: Limited
- Major donor itemization: Limited
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 66th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 5 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 56
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Fail
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: Fail
- Other executive compensation review process: Fail
- Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 12.4%; rating input score 72; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 4.31; rating input score 82; 82nd percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.02; rating input score 89; 89th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 7.5%; rating input score 33; 33rd percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 1.1% per year; rating input score 100; 15th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: -0.6% per year; rating input score 0; 7th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 2.4% per year; rating input score 100; 19th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 91.3% of revenue deployed · 92.6% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 5 of 5 board members independent · 5 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $16.9M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $312K · 13 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 3 contractors listed · $598K reported
- Consistency: 32 of 33 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes executive pay
- Filing history: 14 filing years from 2010 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 8 filed money-flow records
- Grant readiness: Federal tax and exclusion status, award history, and grant-maker relationships.
- People: Everyone the filings name, and which of them the filings identify by more than a name.
Key Signals
Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.
- High — Transparency & Controls: Pay-setting controls scored 0/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 4 of 9 not reported.
- High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 33/100.