Is it real?
Yes. Never revoked by the IRS. Latest filing on record: FY2025. IRS ruling in Dec 1990.
IRS Pub. 78 · IRS Auto-Revocation List · IRS Business Master File
Where the money goes
98 cents of each dollar spent went to programs.
Form 990 Part IX, line 25, columns B–D. Every line is in By the numbers.
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Who runs it and what they're paid
20 people listed on the 990; $943K paid to officers and key staff.
Erin Smeltzer’s $187K as President/CEO is at the 38th percentile of top reported officer pay among 3122 $10–100M human services nonprofits. Peer set: organizations in the same NTEE major field of work and revenue-size band, compared on each org’s own highest-paid officer/key-employee, from Form 990 Part VII / 990-PF Part VIII. Descriptive placement, not a verdict on whether the pay is appropriate.
Compensation history total reportable pay by year · 8 named individuals · Part VII
| Name | FY2025 | FY2024 | FY2023 | FY2022 | FY2021 | FY2020 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Phyllis Kalifeh | — | — | $167,101 | $218,144 | $220,047 | $222,094 |
| Erin Smeltzer | $187,413 | $176,095 | $71,544 | — | — | — |
| Melissa Clements | $114,791 | $104,199 | $90,973 | $92,652 | $92,429 | $88,881 |
| Denise Bishop | $114,454 | $97,709 | $74,570 | $64,898 | $60,236 | — |
| William Kirchhoff | $112,710 | $95,843 | $81,313 | $83,727 | $84,625 | $79,620 |
| Liliana Gmurphy | $101,885 | $108,793 | — | — | — | — |
| Lauren Wofford | $108,464 | $98,614 | $90,599 | — | — | — |
| Lori L Stegmeyer | $108,060 | $97,036 | $79,208 | $76,740 | $76,479 | $73,872 |
Total reportable compensation (Form 990 Part VII column D / Schedule J column E) by filing year, matched by name within this organization. The Schedule J base / bonus / deferred breakdown is not parsed into this dataset.
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Questions the 990 asks
The form asks each of these directly. These are the filed answers.
- Family or business ties among officersPt VI · Ln 2No
- Top official's pay set by an independent reviewPt VI · Ln 15aYes
Programs and updates
Advocates for quality, affordable early education for all children.
Questions for Children's Forum INC
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The teacher education and compensation helps (teach) early childhood scholarship program: provides scholarships for early care educators and center directors to work towards earning an associate's degree or credentials in early childhood education.
Help Me Grow Family Support
This program is designed to help all children thrive. The program provides a care coordinator to help answer any questions that participants may have about child development, customized support and connection to community services, free development and behavioral screenings, as well as parenting tips and developmental activities.
Child Care Incentive$ Florida
The program is designed to increase stability and improve child care quality by reducing turnover and encouraging continued education of child care practitioners. This program provides education based salary supplements for low to moderate wage earners who work with young children ages birth to five.
Funders
Who pays for it.
From grant filings on record. Receipts are incomplete: individual donors are never listed.
Grants
By the numbers
The FY2025 990, line by line.
Download 990
| Line | Start FY25 | End FY25 |
|---|---|---|
| Cash and savingsLn 1–2 | $805K | $1.8M |
| Land, buildings, equipmentLn 10c | $42K | $38K |
| Total assetsLn 16 | $7.1M | $7.5M |
| LiabilitiesLn 26 | $3.8M | $4.0M |
| Net assetsLn 32 | $3.4M | $3.5M |
| Line | Total | Programs | Management | Fundraising |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grants to domestic organizationsLn 1 | $500 | $500 | ||
| Grants to domestic individualsLn 2 | $17.6M | $17.6M | ||
| Pay of current officers, directors and key staffLn 5 | $999K | $970K | $29K | |
| Other salaries and wagesLn 7 | $5.0M | $4.9M | $146K | |
| Pension plan contributionsLn 8 | $183K | $177K | $5K | |
| Other employee benefitsLn 9 | $606K | $589K | $18K | |
| Payroll taxesLn 10 | $450K | $437K | $13K | |
| Accounting feesLn 11c | $35K | $35K | $561 | |
| Other fees for servicesLn 11g | $1.2M | $1.2M | $53K | |
| Office expensesLn 13 | $203K | $146K | $57K | |
| Information technologyLn 14 | $132K | $108K | $24K | |
| OccupancyLn 16 | $317K | $294K | $23K | |
| TravelLn 17 | $178K | $130K | $48K | |
| Conferences, conventions and meetingsLn 19 | $82K | $61K | $21K | |
| Depreciation, depletion and amortizationLn 22 | $4K | $4K | ||
| InsuranceLn 23 | $50K | $48K | $2K | |
| Other expenses (24a–d)Ln 24 | $732K | $652K | $80K | |
| All other expensesLn 24e | $33K | $22K | $11K | |
| Total functional expensesLn 25 | $27.9M | $27.3M | $535K | $0 |
Filing history
| Year | Money in | Money out | In minus out | Net assets | Download |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY2025 Latest Viewing | $28.0M | $27.9M | $110K | $3.5M | 990 PDF |
| FY2024 | $25.2M | $25.2M | $25K | $3.4M | 990 PDF |
| FY2023 | $19.6M | $19.5M | $95K | $3.3M | 990 PDF |
| FY2022 | $16.5M | $16.0M | $509K | $3.2M | 990 PDF |
| FY2021 | $15.4M | $15.3M | $78K | $2.7M | 990 PDF |
| FY2020 | $15.4M | $15.4M | $2K | $2.7M | 990 PDF |
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Schedules filed Part IV
See the full FY2025 990 (6 parts)
Part I · Summary $27,985,072 revenue, 12 lines filed
Part VI · Governance 11 of 11 board members independent, no flags
Part VIII · Statement of revenue $27,985,072 across 5 lines filed
Part IX · Statement of functional expenses $27,875,003 across 18 lines filed
Part X · Balance sheet $7,471,868 assets, 15 lines filed
Part XI · Reconciliation of net assets $3,476,510 net assets at year end
Form 990 e-file (XML) FY2025 from the IRS · Classification, formation year and address from the IRS Business Master File
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