The Planning Council

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
540505998
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Norfolk, VA, USA
Phone
7576229268
Rating
80
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Human Service Organizations

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$13,766,524
Expenses
$13,567,867
Assets
$3,778,709
Liabilities
$2,196,062

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

20 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • JO ANN SHORT (CEO/PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • JO ANN SHORT (CEO/PRESIDENT): $173,593 total reported compensation
  • MARY RYBERG (CFO (OCT-DEC)): $126,808 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

To identify community needs, connect people with solutions and improve lives.

What it reported doing in 2025

Children's services - tpc administers the u.s. Department of agriculture's child and adult care food program (cacfp) across eighteen counties in Maryland, eastern Virginia, and the district of columbia. Through this program, tpc monitors approximately 1,100 childcare homes and centers to ensure compliance with federal nutrition standards. Each month, approximately 11,000 children, living at or below 300% of the federal poverty line, receive nutritious meals through participating providers. Meals served through cacfp often represent a primary source of consistent, balanced nutrition for children in care. In addition to oversight and reimbursement administration, tpc provides training and technical assistance to childcare providers to promote nutrition education and healthy meal planning.tpc also operates the military exceptional family member program (efmp) respite care program under a contract with child care aware of america. Through this program, tpc connects approximately 230 military families who have children with special needs with approximately 165 qualified respite care providers. The program supports military families by coordinating access to trained caregivers who provide temporary, high-quality respite services.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 99% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
Distribution model
Grant intermediary. The nonprofit sent 78% of its reported program spending out as grants.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

The verdict

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and program spending has declined or grown slowly.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 88
  • Transparency & Controls: 76
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 28
  • Growth: 20

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 94.8%; rating input score 95
  • Program expense ratio: 96.5%; rating input score 96
  • Fundraising efficiency: $10.11 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 33; 33rd percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 87.5%; rating input score 88; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 89.5%; rating input score 90; 28th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 9 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 100
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: Pass
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 1.4%; rating input score 30; 30th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.28; rating input score 6; 6th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.58; rating input score 21; 21st percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 2.2%; rating input score 78; 78th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -3.2% per year; rating input score 0; 6th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -0.6% per year; rating input score 0; 5th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 1.5% per year; rating input score 100; 11th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 94.8% of revenue deployed · 96.5% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 18 of 18 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $13.1M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $174K · 20 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 33 of 35 current checks pass · 2 findings to review
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 16 filing years from 2010 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
  • 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.
  • Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 33/100.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 30/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 6/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 21/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.