Achieve Community Charter School

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
812357107
IRS 990 coverage
2017–2022
Forms available
Form 990 2022
Location
Newark, NJ, USA
Phone
9735567070
Rating
75
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Charter Schools

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$10,763,927
Expenses
$10,650,132
Assets
$5,653,046
Liabilities
$3,695,753

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2022. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

13 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • DOMINIQUE LEE (CEO)

Highest reported compensation

  • MANDISSA BRUDEY (PRINCIPAL): $142,599 total reported compensation
  • JAMES LASTER (VICE-PRINCIP): $141,539 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2022. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Achieve community charter school builds innovations who graduate college ready to solve the world's next set of challenges.

What it reported doing in 2022

The charter school provides a full range of educational services appropriate to grade levels k through 8. These include both regular and special education programs. As of june 30, 2023, the charter school's final head count was 441 students. The major initiatives are building the curriculum for rigorous literacy and math instruction through the adoption a new curriculums. Teachers and leaders will be trained in summer institute and on bi-weekly professional development. The charter school also adopted a new guided reading framework in kindergarten to second grade and close reading in third grade. Teachers and leaders were professionally developed to implement the curriculum. Social emotional learning and support was developed through the addition of a vice principal of culture as well as an associate dean. These two positions provided direct support to teachers and administrators in meeting the needs of our most struggling students.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 69% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 100% 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

SUPPORTED - The filed numbers largely add up and most voting board members are independent. Expenses are high relative to revenue and total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 55
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 94
  • Sustainability: 34
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 62%; rating input score 62
  • Program expense ratio: 62.7%; rating input score 63
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 66th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 6 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 86
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Fail
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 1.1%; rating input score 39; 39th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.53; rating input score 17; 17th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.65; rating input score 21; 21st percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 2.7%; rating input score 68; 68th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 25.5% per year; rating input score 100; 93rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 31.2% per year; rating input score 100; 96th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 54.6% per year; rating input score 100; 98th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 62% of revenue deployed · 62.7% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 6 of 6 board members independent · 6 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $6.7M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $143K · 13 people listed
  • Consistency: 25 of 25 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 6 filing years from 2017 to 2022
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
  • 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.

  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 39/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 17/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Audit committee oversight not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 21/100.