Zarlengo Foundation

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
800015548
IRS 990 coverage
2016–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-PF 2015
Location
Wheat Ridge, CO, USA
Phone
3033575633
Rating
68
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Private Independent Foundations

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$536,707
Expenses
$266,978
Assets
$628,673
Liabilities
$4,769

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

8 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Josh Dieringer (Vice President)
  • Cathy O'Donnell (President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Kathryn Zarlengo (Executive Dir.): $95,000 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

The Zarlengo Foundation benefits individuals with learning disabilities through support of schools and programs designed to meet their specific needs. The foundation supports schools and programs for learning disabled children in and around the Denver community.

What it reported doing in 2025

The organization provided funds necessary to assist students with learning disabilities through partnerships with reading and education programs geared specifically to help students succeed in school.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 99% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 43% for direct work, and 57% for grants.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - The filed numbers largely add up and most voting board members are independent. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 45
  • Transparency & Controls: 88
  • Accountability: 75
  • Sustainability: 71
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 32.5%; rating input score 33
  • Program expense ratio: 63.6%; rating input score 64
  • Fundraising efficiency: $17.83 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 52; 52nd percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 92.9%; rating input score 93; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 93.2%; rating input score 93; 44th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 87.5%; rating input score 88; 24th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 4 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 57
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • 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: 50.3%; rating input score 91; 91st percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.35; rating input score 69; 69th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.01; rating input score 62; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 35.6%; rating input score 5; 5th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 0.4% per year; rating input score 100; 17th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 8% per year; rating input score 100; 53rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 7.7% per year; rating input score 100; 47th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 32.5% of revenue deployed · 63.6% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 7 of 8 board members independent · 4 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $170K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $95K · 8 people listed
  • Consistency: 27 of 28 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
  • Filing history: 10 filing years from 2016 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 11 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.

  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 33/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 6 not reported.
  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 52/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 5/100.