Acton Nga School
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 203185510
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2010–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025
- Location
- Austin, TX, USA
- Phone
- 5127734543
- Rating
- 87
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Standard
- Sector
- Graduate, Professional Schools (Separate Entities)
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $29,801,979
- Expenses
- $51,387,427
- Assets
- $75,669,457
- Liabilities
- $37,784
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
3 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- JEFF D SANDEFER (PRESIDENT / TREASURER)
People named in this filing
- JEFF D SANDEFER (PRESIDENT / TREASURER)
- JOHN LAWSON (SECRETARY)
- JUAN BONIFASI (TRUSTEE)
Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Presents formal instruction to regularly enrolled students in a learner-driven environment through faculty who guide a structured series of learning challenges, socratic discussions, and real-world projects tied to defined learning outcomes that map to traditional syllabi and transcripts.
What it reported doing in 2025
In the flagship nga program, in 2025, 110 regularly enrolled students completed learning challenges and courses taught by teachers at acton academy affiliate campuses worldwide and professors at universidad francisco marroquin. The acton children's business fair supported 875 fairs worldwide, including $124k in prize money. The acton academy main campus, founded in 2009, is now owned by anga and will continue to serve students as a k12 learner-driven school.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 61% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- Distribution model
- Grant intermediary. The nonprofit sent 98% of its reported program spending out as grants.
- Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.
The verdict
STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Expenses are high relative to revenue and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 100
- Transparency & Controls: 76
- Accountability: 88
- Sustainability: 35
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
- Program expense ratio: 99.7%; rating input score 100
- Fundraising efficiency: $3,969.2 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 99; 99th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 92.3%; rating input score 92; 10th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: Limited
- Foreign activity oversight: 1 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 12
- Claims monitoring procedures: Pass
- Requires narrative reports: Limited
- Conducts field audits: Limited
- May suspend future funding: Limited
- Requires financial reports: Limited
- Conducts site visits: Limited
- Requires grant agreements: Limited
- May require repayment: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: 83.9%; rating input score 84; 24th percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Yes; rating input score 100
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 5 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 71
- 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: Missing
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -72.4%; rating input score 1; 1st percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.47; rating input score 41; 41st percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 95; 95th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 96; 96th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 33.6% per year; rating input score 100; 95th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 13.1% per year; rating input score 100; 83rd percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 7.8% per year; rating input score 100; 55th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 99.7% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 3 of 3 board members independent · 5 of 7 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $51.2M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 3 people listed
- Highest-paid contractors: 2 contractors listed · $383K reported
- Consistency: 31 of 32 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 10 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, grants, and related organizations
- Filing history: 15 filing years from 2010 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: Resolved incoming and outgoing counterparties from filed money flows.
- 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.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 1/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 41/100.
- Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.