Dexter Southfield School
Overview
Mission
At Dexter Southfield, we inspire students to achieve their personal best. Located on a beautiful campus near Boston, our School fosters a dynamic, joyful community where students from PreK through Class 12 are encouraged to thrive both as individuals and as part of a collective whole. Dexter Southfield’s emphasis on leadership, character, and intellectual curiosity ensures our graduates are prepared to succeed, carrying with them the values of resilience, integrity, and curiosity that define our School. Our Mission Dexter Southfield helps boys and girls develop their individual talents and build an ethical foundation for life. Students learn to lead with confidence, serve with compassion, and live by the motto, _"Our Best Today, Better Tomorrow."_.
What it reported doing in 2024
The school provides elementary and secondary college preparatory education to boys and girls in grades pre-kindergarten through 12.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Earned-program. 87% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The nonprofit carried out 86% of its reported program work directly.
- Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 042104152
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2010–2024
- Website reviewed
- Jun 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024
- Headquarters
- Brookline, MA, United States
- Rating
- 74
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Education
The verdict
SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and the filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 70
- Transparency & Controls: 63
- Accountability: 94
- Sustainability: 72
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 72.8%; rating input score 73
- Program expense ratio: 85.2%; rating input score 85
- Fundraising efficiency: $1.96 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 6; 6th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 71st percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 4 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 67
- Foreign activity oversight: Scored; rating input score 0
- Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 77th percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
- Public monitoring controls: 0 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 0
- Public policy transparency: 0 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 0
- Public financial transparency: 0 of 5 controls in place; rating input score 0
- Impact reporting controls: 0 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 0
- Public relationship transparency: No; rating input score 0
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 76th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 8 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 100
- Public governance controls: 2 of 4 controls in place; rating input score 50
- Zakat policy transparency: Limited
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 23.7%; rating input score 89; 89th percentile among comparable filings
- Operating reserve ratio: 2.85; rating input score 73; 73rd percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.31; rating input score 54; 54th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 4.7%; rating input score 19; 19th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 7.8% per year; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 8% per year; rating input score 100; 67th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 8.2% per year; rating input score 100; 60th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 1 operating location identified
- Where the money goes: 72.8% of revenue deployed · 85.2% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 23 of 23 board members independent · 8 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $55.3M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $686K · 32 people listed · 4 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Consistency: 39 of 39 current checks pass
- Schedules: 12 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, grants, and executive pay
- Filing history: 13 annual filings from 2010 to 2024
- Money network: 9 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 1 filed related-organization link