Ark Institute of Learning

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
911713751
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Tacoma, WA, USA
Phone
2535730311
Rating
83
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Remedial Reading, Reading Encouragement

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$927,615
Expenses
$881,754
Assets
$1,701,583
Liabilities
$29,368

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

14 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • MARNI ROBERTS (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)

Highest reported compensation

  • MARNI ROBERTS (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $108,354 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

The mission is to diminish the impact of learning disorders in the lives of individuals.

What it reported doing in 2025

Basic services: as a clinic devoted to helping normally intelligent students who are not succeeding in their classroom, identifying the causes of failure and the route to success is imperative. Hence the clinic's core purpose is careful assessment and therapeutic instruction. Students succeed with individually signed instruction crafted by highly trained professional clinicians. Total students served in 2025 is 133.

Operating model

Revenue model
Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
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

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 fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 89
  • Transparency & Controls: 86
  • Accountability: 69
  • Sustainability: 49
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 92.4%; rating input score 92
  • Program expense ratio: 96.6%; rating input score 97
  • Fundraising efficiency: $18.53 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 53; 53rd percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 91.7%; rating input score 92; 15th 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; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 2 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 25
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: Fail
    • 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: 4.9%; rating input score 44; 44th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.93; rating input score 63; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.02; rating input score 55; 55th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 12.3%; rating input score 31; 31st percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 5.4% per year; rating input score 100; 39th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 6.3% per year; rating input score 100; 45th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 3.3% per year; rating input score 100; 28th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 92.4% of revenue deployed · 96.6% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 13 of 13 board members independent · 2 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $851K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $108K · 14 people listed
  • Consistency: 24 of 25 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 16 filing years from 2010 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • 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 — Accountability: Governance controls: 5 of 7 not reported.
  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 53/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 44/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 31/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 55/100.