Two By Two Character Development

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
383908793
IRS 990 coverage
2013–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-N 2012
Location
Dubuque, IA, USA
Phone
5635130059
Rating
89
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Standard
Sector
Youth Development Programs

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$685,817
Expenses
$619,527
Assets
$663,965
Liabilities
$35,265

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

15 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Kristin Woodward-Vaassen (CEO/Founding Director)
  • Shane Burtzlaff (President)
  • Ryan Kilburg (Vice President)
  • Wendy Knight (Past President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Kristin Woodward-Vaassen (CEO/Founding Director): $57,308 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Dedicated to creating a kinder world for all living things through social-emotional learning programs. We work to build character and change lives.

What it reported doing in 2024

Two by Two evidence-based programming was designed to capture a childs imagination by connecting the teaching of core values with the love of animals. Having animals as an integral part of each program sets children up to immediately experience empathy and becomes the direct pathway to a childs heart. Our energetic, hands-on Kindhearted Kids program utilizes the humane care of animals as an avenue for teaching kindness, respect, and empathy. Children become pet parents who care for a stuffed dog or cat and strive to demonstrate through journal writing, reading, and mathematics how they are caring, responsible people and pet parents. Kindhearted Kids Meet the Challenge plunges upper elementary students into several family dilemmas, driving them to make responsible decisions for family members and their family pet. Keys of cooperation are taught throughout this multi-sensory program, as well as the core values of responsibility, empathy, cooperation, perseverance, and citizenship. Character Connections offers lessons providing life skill instruction around fairness, kindness, respect, responsibility, empathy, cooperation, perseverance, and citizenship. Animal mascots help make real life connections, even when situations are difficult in a non-threatening and nurturing way. Each lesson has a social emotional competency learning focus, as well as an academic component.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 84% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
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.
  • 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. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and some filed totals do not add up.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 90
  • Transparency & Controls: 93
  • Accountability: 86
  • Sustainability: 53
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 93.6%; rating input score 94
  • Program expense ratio: 92.3%; rating input score 92
  • Fundraising efficiency: $23.2 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 62; 62nd percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 92.3%; rating input score 92; 16th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 93.3%; rating input score 93; 25th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 6 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 75
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 9.7%; rating input score 61; 61st percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.07; rating input score 45; 45th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.05; rating input score 51; 51st percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 9.3%; rating input score 39; 39th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 16.8% per year; rating input score 100; 78th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 11.2% per year; rating input score 100; 70th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 4.4% per year; rating input score 100; 36th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 93.6% of revenue deployed · 92.3% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 14 of 15 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $572K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $57K · 15 people listed
  • Consistency: 29 of 30 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 12 filing years from 2013 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • 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.

  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 45/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 39/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 51/100.