Visually Imparied Preschool Services Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 611061973
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2019–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Louisville, KY, USA
- Phone
- 5026363207
- Rating
- 78
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $3,986,619
- Expenses
- $3,391,672
- Assets
- $7,490,593
- Liabilities
- $287,817
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
30 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- TAYLOR GEHRING (PRESIDENT)
- MIKE JOHNSON (VICE PRESIDENT)
- NATHAN HOLLADAY (IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENT)
- DIANE NELSON (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)
Highest reported compensation
- DIANE NELSON (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $168,988 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Vips empowers families by providing educational excellence to young children with blindness or low vision in order to build a strong foundation for reaching their highest potential.
What it reported doing in 2024
Kids town preschool: kids town preschool at vips in louisville is a center-based program providing an extensive educational experience in a developmentally appropriate and braille-rich environment. Vips has grown from eight children in 1985 to over 750 children in fiscal year 2024. Vips successfully transitions children served through first steps and kids town preschool into their next educational settings. Kids town preschool at vips louisville campus hosts visitors from across the world wanting to learn more about the expanded core curriculum and best practices. Kids town preschool is a Kentucky 5-star center, a test site for american printing house for blind's new research and materials, is accredited nationally by aer. Vips is considered a leader in the field of preschool education for the blind and visually impaired; other states benchmark their model against ours.
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
SUPPORTED - 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 reported officer compensation is a large share of total spending, which may reflect staffing concentration.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 71
- Transparency & Controls: 70
- Accountability: 100
- Sustainability: 68
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 71.7%; rating input score 72
- Program expense ratio: 81.1%; rating input score 81
- Fundraising efficiency: $9.6 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 36; 36th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 1 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 17
- Compensation committee: Missing
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
- Written employment contract: Missing
- Compensation survey or study: Missing
- Board or committee approval: Pass
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: Limited
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 8 of 8 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: NotApplicable
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 14.9%; rating input score 71; 71st percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.21; rating input score 65; 65th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.04; rating input score 74; 74th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 5%; rating input score 54; 54th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 7.9% per year; rating input score 100; 55th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 4% per year; rating input score 100; 34th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 14.1% per year; rating input score 100; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 71.7% of revenue deployed · 81.1% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 29 of 29 board members independent · 8 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $2.7M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $169K · 30 people listed · 1 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Consistency: 34 of 34 current checks pass
- Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
- Filing history: 5 filing years from 2019 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.
- Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 36/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 54/100.