Florida · Nonprofit
Children First Inc
Children First Inc (Florida) receives grants from 126 organizations whose IRS filings report $15,036,826 to it, the largest being GULF COAST COMMUNITY FOUNDATION INC ($3,734,871). 85 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $14M
- Funders on record
- 126
- Grants received
- $15M
- Net assets
- $6.1M
What Children First Inc does
Mission
Children Firsts mission is: Strengthening children and families by improving the quality of their lives through a comprehensive approach to development, education, health and well-being.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Head Start - Serving at-risk and economically vulnerable families with young children, Head Start is a program tailored for children three to five years of age which provides early education, health, dental, vision, hearing and developmental screenings, and coordination of appropriate therapies to address the individual childs needs. Services also include support for the entire family through family strengthening classes and individual family goal setting to achieve economic self sufficiency. 262 children were served during the 2024 calendar year (for the 2023-24 academic year - 172 children were served from Jan - June; 90 additional children were enrolled from August - December). This is an unduplicated count. Program of Excellence designation renewal obtained in 2024 designating Children First amongst the top 1% of Head Start / Early Head Start programs nationwide.
$3,778,325 spent29% of program spendingEarly Head Start - Also serving at-risk and economically vulnerable families with very young children, Early Head Start is a program designed for expectant families and their children, birth to three years of age. Following the comprehensive Head Start model, program provides children and families with a wide array of early childhood development, health, and support services. 276 children were served during the 2024 calendar year (for the 2023/24 academic year - 196 children were served from Jan - June; 80 additional children were enrolled from August - December). This is an unduplicated count. Program of Excellence designation renewal obtained in 2024.
$6,226,608 spent48% of program spendingEarly Childhood Education - The Early Childhood Education program is based on the Head Start/Early Head Start model This program is for children six weeks to five years of age. The children and families receive high quality services and are provided very significant scholarship support. In addition to the 14 full time Early Childhood Education clients, Children First served 76 children in extended before and after care programs on average each month. The summer learning program served 223 children (duplicated count), which includes children who were served during the school year in Head Start or Early Head Start programs in 2024.
$1,961,838 spent15% of program spendingFamilies First Initiative - This comprehensive family strengthening program offers a variety of services focusing on family strengthening, engagement and enrichment programs. $xx,xxx Other Program Services - $xxx,xxx Families First Institute Summary of Classes and Activities January 1, 2024 - December 31, 2024: Nurturing Dads Class - 2 series of classes, Job Skills Training Class - 2 series of classes, Budgeting & Family Finances - 4 series of classes, Positive Solutions For Families - 4 series of classes, Circle of Security - 6 series of classes, ESOL English for Speakers of Other languages - 10 series of classes,
$1,123,352 spent9% of program spendingSelf-Care Course - 4 series of classes and 13 single session workshops on a variety of topics including dietary fitness, continuing education and employment guidance.
$0 spent0% of program spending
The 5 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $13,090,123.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2017, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2017, 50 means half. The number beside each label in the key is where it ended. The shaded band is where the middle 50% of its peers' revenue would sit, given their growth.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2019 to 2020, from $8.0M to $8.6M (+8%).
How it's funded, over time
Each bar is one year's revenue split into where it came from, and every bar is the same height — these are shares, not amounts, so a year that raised twice as much looks the same size. Hover a bar for the split.
Government-grant reliance: 2017 68% · 2018 67% · 2019 67% · 2020 68% · 2021 64% · 2022 68% · 2023 65% · 2024 68%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
88% of Children First Inc’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (23% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 8 reported years ran a deficit.
reserve
Leadership and staff
The officers, directors, trustees and key employees listed on each return. Joined and no longer listed compare each filing with the year before, matching people by surname and first initial; a year after a gap, or a roster under three people, has no comparison.
Chief executive
Philip Tavill
President & CEO
Board chair
Keith Johnson
Chair
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 27 funders to 58 funders, grant income rose $962k → $1.8M.
21 of 126 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 42% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
From the IRS filings of Children First Inc’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 126 funders by total. Association, not causation. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How concentrated its funding is
Children First Inc has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 25% of grant income, and it takes 4 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 4 funders to its left
52% of the income these shares are computed over arrives through pass-through sponsors or from payers whose filings do not say what kind of payment it is. Concentration is still measured over all of it, because the money is real; what it does not support is a claim about how many institutions have chosen to fund Children First Inc.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 37% · 2018 34% · 2019 40% · 2020 27% · 2021 21% · 2022 19% · 2023 23% — diversifying over time.
“Effective funders” = inverse Herfindahl index (1 / Σ shareᵢ²) — the number of equal-sized funders that would give the same concentration. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How long its funders stay
53% of Children First Inc's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 67% give in more than one year at all.
Share of funders still giving k years after their first recorded grant, pooled across every acquisition cohort. A funder counts as retained in a year only if it made a grant that year. Measured to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving — a funder cannot be counted as lapsed in a year most filers have not reached.
Where its funders are
77% of Children First Inc's grant income comes from Florida funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $6.3M arriving through sponsors registered in 11 states is excluded from the map and the split above: a sponsor holds money on a donor’s behalf, so its registered address would place those dollars somewhere no donor need ever have been. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
Against its field
Children First Inc's funding base is broadening — from 27 funders to 58 as grant income climbed.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 4,065 education nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2024
Government funding Children First Inc receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $96.3M on record — $95.9M federal, $416k state.
- Department of Health and Human Services$95.9M
- FEDERAL FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE - GENERAL $416k
- FEES - GENERAL - COMMODITIES $122
Federal grants vs contracts are distinguished; state line items keep their reported category. Matched by name + geography (the BMF), so coverage is partial and precision-first.
Organizations like Children First Inc
Organizations whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over every organization in the US filings — the closest peers, and often the clearest route to shared or prospective funders.
In Florida
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
87% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
97%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Children First Inc: IRS status (Business Master File, Publication 78, auto-revocation), the OFAC sanctions lists, the Internal Revenue Bulletin, and California registration, with the Rev. Proc. 2018-32 §8.01 reliance elements stated element by element. Generated from the current files at the moment you download it.
Screens are triage, not determinations; a source that cannot be read reports not screened, never clear. Screen this nonprofit · How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf
Questions and answers
- Who funds Children First Inc?
- Children First Inc (Florida) receives grants from 126 organizations whose IRS filings report $15,036,826 to it, the largest being GULF COAST COMMUNITY FOUNDATION INC ($3,734,871). 85 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does Children First Inc have?
- IRS filings report 126 organizations giving $15,036,826 in grants to Children First Inc, 85 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Children First Inc?
- GULF COAST COMMUNITY FOUNDATION INC is the largest funder on record, with $3,734,871 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Children First Inc find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Florida. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
Play a game about who funds Children First →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 126 funders that report grants to it. “On record” means captured in the filings we have parsed — a funder that does not e-file, or whose grant detail is not itemized, will not appear. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind. Trends on this page end at FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving; later years are shown and marked, and move no figure. Data on this page was exported October 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing