Achieve Atlanta Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
472670990
IRS 990 coverage
2015–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Atlanta, GA, USA
Phone
4048803500
Rating
86
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Single Organization Support

Reported finances

Revenue
$8,142,335
Expenses
$7,006,584
Assets
$17,091,001
Liabilities
$2,000,145

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

16 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • CHERYL L WATSON-HARRIS (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)

Highest reported compensation

  • CHERYL L WATSON-HARRIS (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $306,713 total reported compensation
  • KORYNN SCHOOLEY (VP, COLLEGE ACCESS): $190,396 total reported compensation
  • SUSANNE DIGGS-WILBORN (VP, COLLEGE SUCCESS): $173,118 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Achieve atlanta envisions a future where atlanta is a city where race and income no longer predict postsecondary success and upward mobility. In service of this vision, achieve atlanta's mission is to help students access, afford, and earn postsecondary credentials. Achieve atlanta believes we must work across sectors to solve the complex problem of low-degree attainment. Therefore, achieve atlanta catalyzes and facilitates results-driven collaboration by setting a vision, assembling cross-sector teams, and creating conditions for success for students and their families. Our partnerships include atlanta public schools, 11 colleges and universities, and numerous nonprofit and community organizations.

What it reported doing in 2024

College affordability - see schedule oachieve atlanta works with atlanta public schools and its external partners to provide information, training, and tools that ensure students make informed decisions about college costs and access funding to support those costs. In addition, achieve atlanta provides the state's largest need-based scholarship to support atlanta public schools students pursuing various postsecondary education paths after high school. For students attending a four-year college, the achieve atlanta scholarship is worth up to $5,000 per year, renewable for up to four years of school. For students attending a two-year or technical college, the award is up to $1,500 per year, renewable for up to two years of school. Achieve atlanta also provides emergency grants of up to $500 to support students faced with an unexpected financial need to allow them to stay on track in college, as well as completion grants for some students who have exhausted their achieve atlanta scholarship but need assistance to complete up to two more terms. These scholarships and grants are meant to help close the financial gaps students face when paying for college.

Operating model

Revenue model
Affiliate-supported. 87% of the money available for current operations came from contributions from related organizations.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 94% of reported program-service expenses outside its grant, affiliate-payment, and member-benefit lines. This expense classification does not rule out separately announced grant awards.

The verdict

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and reported officer compensation is a large share of total spending, which may reflect staffing concentration.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 79
  • Transparency & Controls: 91
  • Accountability: 95
  • Sustainability: 60
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 75.3%; rating input score 75
  • Program expense ratio: 82.1%; rating input score 82
  • Fundraising efficiency: $90.93 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 86; 86th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 5 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 83
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • Independent consultant: Pass
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 8 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 89
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 13.9%; rating input score 69; 69th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.44; rating input score 68; 68th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.12; rating input score 56; 56th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 22.5%; rating input score 10; 10th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 12.7% per year; rating input score 100; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 13.7% per year; rating input score 100; 79th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 25.4% per year; rating input score 100; 90th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 75.3% of revenue deployed · 82.1% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 6 of 6 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $5.8M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $307K · 16 people listed · 5 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $2.1M reported
  • Consistency: 33 of 33 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 9 filing years from 2015 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 9 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 1 filed related-organization link
  • Grant readiness: Federal tax and exclusion status, award history, and grant-maker relationships.
  • People: Everyone the filings name, and which of them the filings identify by more than a name.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Other executive compensation review process not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 10/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 56/100.