Mission: Fred Rogers Productions builds on our founder's legacy by creating quality children's media that models an enthusiasm for learning and earns the trust of parents and caregivers.
FRP was founded in 1971 to produce Mister Rogers' Neighborhood and, since 2012, has launched six new series on PBS KIDS that promote social-emotional learning, build excitement about STEM, and help bring out the best in parents. These programs reach a monthly broadcast audience of more than 5 million viewers, who also watch more than 80 million FRP videos on streaming platforms. They've inspired educational games and apps, storybooks, summer camps, and resources for parents and preschool teachers.
Independent studies attest to the effectiveness of FRP's programs, with findings that corroborate feedback from parents, who regularly thank us for helping them connect with their children, helping their kids manage big feelings, and giving all children the chance to see themselves represented on screen.
Fred Rogers Productions is a 501(c)(3) organization, with an IRS ruling year of 1972, and donations are tax-deductible.
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Contact Information
2100 Wharton Street
Suite 700
Pittsburgh PA 15203
The IRS is significantly delayed in processing nonprofits' annual tax filings (Forms 990). As a result, the Financial and Accountability & Transparency score for Fred Rogers Productions is outdated and the overall rating may not be representative of its current operations. Please check with the charity directly for any questions you may have.
Charity Navigator evaluates a nonprofit organization’s financial health including measures of stability, efficiency and sustainability. We also track accountability and transparency policies to ensure the good governance and integrity of the organization.
This charity's score is 90.71, earning it a 4-Star rating. Donors can "Give with Confidence" to this charity.
This score is calculated from two sub-scores:
Finance: 87.50 View details
Accountability & Transparency: 96.00 View details
This score represents Form 990 data from 2019, the latest year published by the IRS.
View this organization’s historical ratings.
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The Program Expense Ratio is determined by Program Expenses divided by Total Expense (average of most recent three 990s).
This measure reflects the percent of its total expenses a charity spends on the programs and services it exists to deliver. Dividing a charity's average program expenses by its average total functional expenses yields this percentage. We calculate the charity's average expenses over its three most recent fiscal years.
Source: IRS Form 990
As reported by charities on their IRS Form 990, this measure reflects what percent of its total budget a charity spends on overhead, administrative staff and associated costs, and organizational meetings. Dividing a charity's average administrative expenses by its average total functional expenses yields this percentage. We calculate the charity's average expenses over its three most recent fiscal years.
Source: IRS Form 990
This measure reflects what a charity spends to raise money. Fundraising expenses can include campaign printing, publicity, mailing, and staffing and costs incurred in soliciting donations, memberships, and grants. Dividing a charity's average fundraising expenses by its average total functional expenses yields this percentage. We calculate the charity's average expenses over its three most recent fiscal years.
Source: IRS Form 990
The Liabilities to Assets Ratio is determined by Total Liabilities divided by Total Assets (most recent 990).
Part of our goal in rating the financial performance of charities is to help donors assess the financial capacity and sustainability of a charity. As do organizations in other sectors, charities must be mindful of their management of total liabilites in relation to their total assets. This ratio is an indicator of an organization’s solvency and or long term sustainability. Dividing a charity's total liabilities by its total assets yields this percentage.
Source: IRS Form 990
The amount spent to raise $1 in charitable contributions. To calculate a charity's fundraising efficiency, we divide its average fundraising expenses by the average total contributions it receives. We calculate the charity's average expenses and average contributions over its three most recent fiscal years.
Source: IRS Form 990
Determines how long a charity could sustain its level of spending using its net available assets, or working capital, as reported on its most recently filed Form 990. We include in a charity's working capital unrestricted and temporarily restricted net assets, and exclude permanently restricted net assets. Dividing these net available assets in the most recent year by a charity's average total expenses, yields the working capital ratio. We calculate the charity's average total expenses over its three most recent fiscal years.
Source: IRS Form 990
We compute the average annual growth of program expenses using the following formula: [(Yn/Y0)(1/n)]-1, where Y0 is a charity's program expenses in the first year of the interval analyzed, Yn is the charity's program expenses in the most recent year, and n is the interval of years passed between Y0 and Yn.
Source: IRS Form 990
Charity Navigator looks to confirm on the Form 990 that the organization has these governance practices in place.
Sources Include: IRS Form 990
Governance: | |
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Independent Voting Board Members ... (More) | |
No Material Diversion of Assets ... (More) A diversion of assets – any unauthorized conversion or use of the organization's assets other than for the organization's authorized purposes, including but not limited to embezzlement or theft – can seriously call into question a charity's financial integrity. We check the charity's last two Forms 990 to see if the charity has reported any diversion of assets. If the charity does report a diversion, then we check to see if it complied with the Form 990 instructions by describing what happened and its corrective action. This metric will be assigned to one of the following categories:
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Audited Financials Prepared by Independent Accountant ... (More) Audited financial statements provide important information about financial accountability and accuracy. They should be prepared by an independent accountant with oversight from an audit committee. (It is not necessary that the audit committee be a separate committee. Often at smaller charities, it falls within the responsibilities of the finance committee or the executive committee.) The committee provides an important oversight layer between the management of the organization, which is responsible for the financial information reported, and the independent accountant, who reviews the financials and issues an opinion based on its findings. We check the charity's Form 990 reporting to see if it meets this criteria.
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Does Not Provide Loan(s) to or Receive Loan(s) From Related Parties ... (More) | |
Documents Board Meeting Minutes ... (More) | |
Distributes 990 to Board Before Filing ... (More) | |
Compensates Board ... (More) |
Charity Navigator looks to confirm on the Form 990, or for some metrics on the charity's website, that the organization has these policies in place.
Sources Include: IRS Form 990 and organization's website
Policies: | |
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Conflict of Interest ... (More) | |
Whistleblower ... (More) | |
Records Retention and Destruction ... (More) | |
CEO Compensation Process ... (More) | |
Donor Privacy ... (More) Donors can be reluctant to contribute to a charity when their name, address, or other basic information may become part of donor lists that are exchanged or sold, resulting in an influx of charitable solicitations from other organizations. Our analysts check the charity's website to see if the organization has a donor privacy policy in place and what it does and does not cover. Privacy policies are assigned to one of the following categories:
The privacy policy must be specific to donor information. A general website policy which references "visitor" or "user" personal information will not suffice. A policy that refers to donor information collected on the website is also not sufficient as the policy must be comprehensive and applicable to both online and offline donors. The existence of a privacy policy of any type does not prohibit the charity itself from contacting the donor for informational, educational, or solicitation purposes. (Less) |
Charity Navigator looks to confirm on the Form 990, or for some metrics on the charity's website, that the organization makes this information easily accessible.
Sources Include: IRS Form 990 and organization's website
Transparency: | |
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CEO Salary Listed on 990 ... (More) | |
Board of Directors Listed on Website ... (More) | |
Key Staff Listed on Website ... (More) | |
Audited Financial Statements on Website ... (More) | |
Form 990 Available on Website ... (More) |
This beta feature is currently viewable only on desktop or tablet screens. Check back later for updates.
This chart displays the trend of revenue and expenses over the past several years for this organization, as reported on their IRS Form 990.
Presented here are this organizations key compensated staff members as identified by our analysts. This compensation data includes salary, cash bonuses and expense accounts and is displayed exactly how it is reported to the IRS. The amounts do not include nontaxable benefits, deferred compensation, or other amounts not reported on Form W-2. In some cases, these amounts may include compensation from related organizations. Read the IRS policies for compensation reporting
Current CEO and Board Chair can be found in the Leadership & Adaptability report below.
Source: IRS Form 990 (page 7), filing year 2020
Below are some key data points from the Exempt Organization IRS Business Master File (BMF) for this organization. Learn more about the BMF on the IRS website
Other cultural or historical activities (BMF activity code: 119)
Other school related activities (BMF activity code: 059)
Publishing activities (BMF activity code: 120)
Organization which receives a substantial part of its support from a governmental unit or the general public 170(b)(1)(A)(vi) (BMF foundation code: 15)
Independent - the organization is an independent organization or an independent auxiliary (i.e., not affiliated with a National, Regional, or Geographic grouping of organizations). (BMF affiliation code: 3)
The Form 990 is a document that nonprofit organizations file with the IRS annually. We leverage finance and accountability data from it to form Encompass ratings. Click here to view this organization's Forms 990 on the IRS website (if any are available).
Due to the unprecedented nature of the pandemic, we give charities such as this one the opportunity to share the story of COVID's impact on them. Charities may submit their own pandemic responses through their nonprofit portal.
Program Delivery
Revenue
COVID-19 has posed a challenge to seeking contributions, in that foundations and donors have been focusing on programs and services that immediately address crises associated with the pandemic. It also required shutting down touring stage shows based on our programs on PBS, which are normally a source of licensing income.
We had to make major adjustments to the community outreach efforts at PBS member stations that we normally support.
We put regular production of Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood on hold in order to produce “Won’t You Sing Along with Me,” a half-hour special that included some of the most relevant strategies from Daniel Tiger episodes for children coping with the pandemic. We produced PSAs featured Odd Squad agents to help children stay healthy and safe. We also created a virtual living room for our Daniel Tiger costume character so that local station outreach specialists could host virtual story times.
We will continue exploring innovations for meaningful virtual engagement of children and parents.
Previous: Finance & Accountability / Next: Leadership & Adaptability
This score estimates the actual impact a nonprofit has on the lives of those it serves, and determines whether it is making good use of donor resources to achieve that impact.
Fred Rogers Productions cannot currently be evaluated by our Encompass Rating Impact & Results methodology because either (A) it is eligible, but we have not yet received data; (B) we have not yet developed an algorithm to estimate its programmatic impact; (C) its programs are not direct services; or (D) it is not heavily reliant on contributions from individual donors.
Note: The absence of a score does not indicate a positive or negative assessment, it only indicates that we have not yet evaluated the organization.
Do you work at Fred Rogers Productions? Join the waitlist for an updated Impact & Results score.
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Fred Rogers Productions reported its three largest programs on its FY 2019 Form 990 as:
Spent in most recent FY
Percent of program expenses
Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood
Spent in most recent FY
Percent of program expenses
Odd Squad
Spent in most recent FY
Percent of program expenses
Peg + Cat Series
Previous: Impact & Results / Next: Culture & Community
This score provides an assessment of the organization's leadership capacity, strategic thinking and planning, and ability to innovate or respond to changes in constituent demand/need or other relevant social and economic conditions to achieve the organization's mission.
Fred Rogers Productions is currently not eligible for a Leadership & Adaptability score because we have not received its L&A survey responses.
Note: The absence of a score does not indicate a positive or negative assessment, it only indicates that the organization has not yet submitted data for evaluation.
This beta feature is currently viewable only on desktop or tablet screens. Check back later for updates.
Chief Executive Officer
Chairman
Previous: Leadership & Adaptability
This score provides an assessment of the organization's culture and connectedness to the community it serves. Learn more about how and why we rate Culture & Community.
Fred Rogers Productions is currently not eligible for a Culture & Community score because we have not received its Constituent Feedback or Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion data. Nonprofit organizations are encouraged to fill out the How We Listen and Equity Practices sections of their Candid profile.
Note: The absence of a score does not indicate a positive or negative assessment, it only indicates that we have not yet evaluated the organization.
This beta feature is currently viewable only on desktop or tablet screens. Check back later for updates.
This organization has not provided information regarding the diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) practices it is presently implementing. As such, the organization has not earned a score on this metric. Charity Navigator believes nonprofit organizations implementing effective DEI policies and practices can enhance a nonprofit's decision-making, staff motivation, innovation, and effectiveness.
We are utilizing data collected by Candid to document and assess the DEI practices implemented by the organization. Nonprofit organizations are encouraged to fill out the Equity Strategies section of their Candid profiles to receive a rating.
Learn more about the methodology.
Constituent Feedback and Listening Practice data are not available for this organization. Charity Navigator believes nonprofit organizations that engage in inclusive practices, such as collecting feedback from the people and communities they serve, may be more effective.
We've partnered with Candid to survey organizations about their feedback practices. Nonprofit organizations can fill out the How We Listen section of their Candid profile to receive a rating.
Learn more about the methodology.
Like the overall Encompass Rating System, the Culture & Community Beacon is designed to evolve as metrics are developed and ready for integration. Below you can find more information about the metrics we currently evaluate in this beacon and their relevance to nonprofit performance.
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