Wake County Smart Start
Legal name: Wake County Smart Start Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 561949415
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2020–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Aug 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Raleigh, NC, US
- Phone
- (919) 851-9550
- Rating
- 84
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Kindergarten, Preschool, Nursery School, Early Admissions
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $27,914,896
- Expenses
- $27,249,271
- Assets
- $4,446,723
- Liabilities
- $199,912
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
22 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- GAYLE HEADEN (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)
Highest reported compensation
- GAYLE HEADEN (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $171,360 total reported compensation
- GARY CARR (DIRECTOR OF FINANCE): $168,081 total reported compensation
- CAROL C ORJI (DIRECTOR OF ECI): $130,115 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Preparing children for kindergarten and life ahead!
What it reported doing in 2024
Child care education and qualityin wake county, 33 percent of the "birth-to-five" population attended regulated child care. Because a child's experiences in the first five years are of such a critical nature, wake county smart start works to ensure that quality child care is both accessible and available to families who need it. Wake county smart start invests in community partners who provide subsidy payments in regulated childcare, work with licensed child care facilities to maintain or improve quality, and provide opportunities for child care professionals to increase their skills. Additional areas of support include training, curriculum enhancements, and mentoring programs. For fiscal year 2024 - 2025, approximately 31 child care facilities were served. Programs are supported by a state grant and program service fees.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Grant-funded. 97% of the money available for current operations came from government grants.
- Distribution model
- Grant intermediary. The nonprofit sent 85% of its reported program spending out as grants.
The verdict
STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Few specific pay-setting methods are documented in the filing; unanswered boxes are not proof of absence and total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 93
- Transparency & Controls: 71
- Accountability: 92
- Sustainability: 41
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 91.6%; rating input score 92
- Program expense ratio: 93.8%; rating input score 94
- Fundraising efficiency: $295.11 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 92; 92nd percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 0 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 0
- Compensation committee: Missing
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
- Written employment contract: Missing
- Compensation survey or study: Missing
- Board or committee approval: Missing
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 94.1%; rating input score 94; 27th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 8 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 89
- 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: Fail
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 2.4%; rating input score 44; 44th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.16; rating input score 4; 4th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.04; rating input score 84; 84th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 1.7%; rating input score 79; 79th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 8% per year; rating input score 100; 61st percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 8% per year; rating input score 100; 65th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 9.1% per year; rating input score 100; 61st percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 5 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
- Where the money goes: 91.6% of revenue deployed · 93.8% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 16 of 17 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 5 filed program accomplishments · $25.6M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $171K · 22 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Consistency: 32 of 32 current checks pass
- Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
- Filing history: 4 filing years from 2020 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 60 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 42 filed related-organization links
- 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.
- High — Transparency & Controls: Pay-setting controls scored 0/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 4/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 44/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Audit committee oversight not reported.