The Science Vortex of Verde Valley
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 844106067
- IRS 990-EZ coverage
- 2021–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990-EZ 2025, Form 990-N 2020
- Location
- Cornville, AZ, USA
- Phone
- 9282257830
- Rating
- 86
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $137,595
- Expenses
- $123,094
- Assets
- $96,328
- Liabilities
- $0
Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
4 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Laurie Altringer (President Treasurer- Employee- Director- Lead Instructor)
People named in this filing
- Laurie Altringer (President Treasurer- Employee- Director- Lead Instructor)
- Viviane Kraus (Secretary Director)
- Matthew Scheidegger (Director)
Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.
Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
The Science Vortex provides STEM+art (STEAM) education to families. Our mission is to positively impact children's critical-thinking abilities, creativity, and STEM literacy. Our center is committed to achieving these goals by providing hands-on, interactive exhibits, enticing learning materials, and engaging programs for children ages 2-12. We strive to create an environment where children are drawn into a vortex of play, perseverance, collaboration, and innovation!
What it reported doing in 2025
Community Outreach Program: In 2025, the Science Vortex conducted community outreach through 14 events, reaching at least 613 participants. Events included library programs, school visits, after-school clubs, and community festivals such as the Verde Valley SciTech Festival and City of Sedona STEAM sessions.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
- 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
STRONG - The filed numbers largely add up and a large share of available resources goes toward mission work. Expenses are high relative to revenue and total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 77
- Transparency & Controls: 100
- Sustainability: 51
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 73.7%; rating input score 74
- Program expense ratio: 82%; rating input score 82
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 10.5%; rating input score 56; 56th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.78; rating input score 51; 51st percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 74; 74th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 43.9%; rating input score 7; 7th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 19% per year; rating input score 100; 73rd percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 15% per year; rating input score 100; 75th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 31% per year; rating input score 100; 86th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 73.7% of revenue deployed · 82% of spending went to programs
- Governance: Filed governance answers
- Accomplishments: 10 filed program accomplishments · $101K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 4 people listed
- Consistency: 9 of 9 current checks pass
- Schedules: 3 filed schedules
- Filing history: 5 filing years from 2021 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
- 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.
Key Signals
Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.
- Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 56/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 51/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 7/100.