Vehicle for Change Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
830427086
IRS 990 coverage
2012–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2011
Location
Galena, OH, USA
Phone
8778411110
Rating
80
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Education N.E.C.

Reported finances

Revenue
$231,281
Expenses
$281,317
Assets
$40,324
Liabilities
$414,700

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

Leadership & pay

2 people listed

Highest reported compensation

  • WESLEY FOSTER (PROGRAM DIRE): $31,875 total reported compensation
  • LARA FOSTER (EXECUTIVE DI): $20,000 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Leadership training, adventure education, character education, and stem (science, technology, engineering, and math related activities for children in grades k-12.

What it reported doing in 2024

Our programs include character, leadership, and stem related subjects. We teach character principals through adventure activities, mentorships, and enrichment programs. We lease and maintain equipment such as ropes courses, rock walls, and various teambuilding and physical education props. We bring these programs to school campuses, children's homes, domestic abuse centers, and juvenile detention facilities to empower young people. We strive to make seach learning experience relevant, fun, and engaging for each student, to enable them to promote their perceptions of themselves as proactive empowered problem-solvers within their community and innovators capable of changing the world. We worked with approximately 15,400 children from 44 different schools, churches, and parks & recreation departments in 2023. We expanded our scholarship program to include title 1 schools and also schools that do not qualify for title 1. Any school that offers our fee-based adventure program is assured that no child will be refused participation because a parent or guardian cannot afford the fee.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 100% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
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 - 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 expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 89
  • Transparency & Controls: 90
  • Accountability: 79
  • Sustainability: 11
  • Growth: 20

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 99.4%; rating input score 99
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • 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; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 4 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: Pass
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -21.6%; rating input score 13; 13th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.14; rating input score 9; 9th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 10.28; rating input score 0; 0th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 18.4%; rating input score 21; 21st percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -0.6% per year; rating input score 0; 28th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -2% per year; rating input score 0; 17th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 15.6% per year; rating input score 100; 78th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 99.4% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 2 of 2 board members independent · 4 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $280K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $32K · 2 people listed
  • Consistency: 25 of 25 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 12 filing years from 2012 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 3 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.

  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 13/100.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 9/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 21/100.