Soho Center for Arts and Education Inc
Public records show a registered, tax-exempt organization in good standing.
Points to look into
- It reported loans to or from officers, directors or other insiders.
These come from the organization's own tax return. There may be a good explanation; ask the charity.
What it says it does
The organization's mission is to provide programs and services that benefit children and families, improve child care, improve children's literacy and children's education. This is accomplished through one comprehensive program consisting of several services as described in more detail in attached Schedule O.
- Income
- $5.0 million
- Spending
- $5.1 million
- Spent on programs
- 99%
- Reserves
- 1.3 months of spending
- Largest source of income
- donations and private grants, 99%
- Employees
- 1
- Volunteers
- 3
- Highest pay
- $110,900, president and executive director
Source: Form 990 for the year ending June 30, 2025, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Financial health
Fair: 58 out of 100. Higher than 39% of charities in its peer group (education, $1m to $10m).
Reserves
10 of 35Spendable reserves would cover 1.3 months of spending.
Debt
10 of 20It owes 40% of what it owns.
Living within its means
8 of 15Spending exceeded income by 2% of income.
Income trend
15 of 15Income rose 10% on the year before.
Spending floor
15 of 1599% of spending went to programs and raising each dollar of donations cost 0 cents.
Source: Form 990 for the year ending June 30, 2025, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Governance
Fair: 56 out of 100. Higher than 14% of charities in its peer group (education, $1m to $10m).
Independent board
5 of 251 of 3 voting board members are independent.
Conflict of interest policy
15 of 15Has a written conflict of interest policy.
Whistleblower policy
0 of 8Reports no written whistleblower policy.
Record keeping policy
7 of 7Has a written policy on keeping and destroying records.
Board minutes
5 of 5Keeps minutes of board meetings.
Board sees the tax return
10 of 10Gave the board a copy of this return before filing it.
Pay set independently
5 of 5Sets its chief executive's pay through independent review and comparison.
Independent check of accounts
9 of 15Its accounts were reviewed or compiled by an independent accountant, but not audited.
No reported misuse
0 of 10Reports at least one of: diversion of assets, excess benefits, loans to insiders.
Source: Form 990 for the year ending June 30, 2025, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Impact evidence
Describes programs. Its tax return describes what it does but we have found no measurable results in it.
Programs described in its return (8)
- $5.0 million spent. For five decades, the Soho Center has organized, developed and implemented a variety of quality child care and model early childhood/elementary school programs, after school and enrichment programs, parent education programs, and teacher and child care provider training programs. The Soho Center has also created needed print, web, and video materials to support its mission. All programs and services, including major Book Giveaways, are designed to benefit large numbers of primarily low-income children and families. Taken together, the various elements of the Comprehensive Children's Literacy/Education/Child Care/REACH/Health Initiative demonstrate innovative solutions to improving the lives of infants, pre-schoolers, and school-aged children and their families. Enhancing children's education (including promoting children's literacy, nutrition, safety, and health) as well as promoting quality child care, school readiness, and school success is essential for children's development and well-being. This is consistent with the Soho Center's charter to develop and offer programs and services which contribute to children's educational outcomes and well-being.
- Name of Program: Comprehensive Children's Literacy/Education/Child Care/REACH/Health Initiative
- Description of Programs: The Soho Center promotes children's literacy, school readiness, and school success for over 200,000 children each year. The Soho Center's free programs and services are designed to provide children of all ages with educational opportunities and to enhance the health and well-being of children and families. The Soho Center collaborates with - and provides resources to - a variety of child-related non-profits, agencies, and organizations to help large numbers of low-income and medically-challenged children. As funding permits, programs include:
- Large-Scale Book Giveaways: The Soho Center promotes children's literacy, school readiness, and school success by giving away millions of dollars of new, high-quality children's books each year. The Soho Center gives collections of age-appropriate books to Head Start classrooms, hundreds of after-school programs and Boys & Girls Clubs, hundreds of child care providers, public schools, public libraries, children's hospitals, the USO, and other organizations providing services to children and families. The Soho Center's Book Giveaways help over 200,000 low-income and medically-challenged children have access to quality books and year-round opportunities to enjoy story times, practice reading skills, and learn from books. To see the scope of Soho's Book Giveaways, please visit www.sohobooks.org.
- Literacy Information: The Soho Center also promotes children's literacy, school readiness, and school success with Soho's National Children's Literacy Website (www.kidsliteracy.org). The Soho Center's Children's Literacy Website is consistently in the Top Five on Google, Bing, and Yahoo for "children's literacy" out of tens of millions of sites - with no paid placement. The site gives easy-to-understand, easy-to-implement literacy tips and information to parents, grandparents, child care providers, teachers, and community volunteers.
- Model School/Curriculum Development: The Soho Center has developed and tested a model curriculum for high quality early childhood education and elementary education. The Soho Center's approach emphasizes opportunities for learning from birth on, prioritizes the importance of reading, and integrates the arts, nature studies, and other educational activities into a curriculum of traditional academic subjects. Curriculum development focuses on strategies and activities that require little additional cost and are applicable to low-income educational situations. Free outreach and on-site programs for groups of Head Start students and public school children promote children's literacy and offer a range of educational opportunities and experiences.
- Provider Outreach, Child Care Training and Free Child-Related Support Services: The Soho Center works to improve the quality of family child care by developing and field-testing outreach strategies to surface unregulated providers and encourage them to meet state child care codes, attend training, and access available child care benefits and resources. The Soho Center promotes on-going professional development and training for low-income providers on child care-related topics. The Soho Center develops quality training materials (long-form videos, newsletters, and resource directories) to improve the quality of child care and after-school care and to promote school readiness and school success. The Soho Center's training efforts are designed to provide information on child development, health, safety, nutrition, literacy, and learning activities. The Soho Center also distributes copies of its family child care-related DVD to public libraries, universities, child care associations, and child care-related agencies. The Soho Center distributes free brochures on children's injury prevention, discipline and limit-setting, nutrition, age-appropriate learning activities, children's literacy, and health. The Soho Center also distributes children's clothing and toys to low-income children in Head Start programs and to low-income family child care providers and families. The Soho Center provides free business advice and information about child care codes, child care associations, child care-related agencies and organizations. The Soho Center also provides free support services and information to child care-related organizations which work with low-income providers and parents.
- Resource Library and Media Technical Assistance and Facility: The Soho Center maintains and continues to expand an extensive model Resource Library of over 30,000 titles of children's books and accompanying educational materials for pre-school and school-age children. The Soho Center also maintains and continues to expand a resource collection of books on parent education, child care, early childhood education, and elementary education. In addition, the Soho Center has created a media facility to cost-effectively support outreach and training efforts, arts and education projects, and non-profits serving low-income families in health, education, and other needed services. The facility continues to be upgraded and expanded. It currently includes a Lightworks Pro broadcast-level post-production video and digital audio system.
Source: Form 990 for the year ending June 30, 2025, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Legitimacy checks
Is it registered with the IRS? Passed.
Listed in the IRS master file of tax-exempt organizations as a 501(c)(3) charitable organization.
Source: Exempt Organizations Business Master File, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.
Has the IRS revoked its tax-exempt status? Passed.
Not on the IRS automatic revocation list.
Source: Automatic revocation of exemption list, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.
Are donations tax-deductible? Passed.
On the IRS list of organizations eligible to receive tax-deductible contributions.
Source: Publication 78 data: organizations eligible for tax-deductible contributions, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.
Is it keeping up with its IRS filings? Passed.
Most recent return on file covers the year ending June 2025.
Source: Exempt Organizations Business Master File, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.
How long has it been tax-exempt? Passed.
Recognized by the IRS since January 1987.
Source: Exempt Organizations Business Master File, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.
Is it in good standing with state regulators? Passed.
Not on California's list of charities barred from soliciting. Other states are not yet checked.
Source: May Not Operate or Solicit for Charitable Purposes list, California Attorney General, Registry of Charities and Fundraisers, file dated October 21, 2026.
Ratings and checks are our reading of public records, using the published method. They are not a statement about anyone's honesty. If you work for this organization, you can send corrections or results, confirm you want gifts through Veridonate, or ask to be removed from giving.