Ascend College Prep
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 851435725
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2021–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-N 2020
- Location
- Colorado Springs, CO, USA
- Phone
- 7193686936
- Rating
- 77
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Charter Schools
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $1,321,852
- Expenses
- $1,291,285
- Assets
- $588,285
- Liabilities
- $433,557
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
10 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- William Frost (President)
- Mary Szucs (Vice President)
Highest reported compensation
- Karin McWhorter (Principal and Director): $91,054 total reported compensation
- Jennifer Staack-Kennerty (Assistant Principal): $70,320 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Ascend College Prep is a public high school for 10-12th grade students in Colorado Springs and the surrounding area. Our Mission is to "Prepare and inspire students to become lifelong learners and responsible citizens through rigorous academic courses, personalized electives, and active community engagement."
What it reported doing in 2024
At Ascend, we want our students to ask "why" we want them to dig deeper into the material instead of simply replicating the work they have been shown during a class. True learning is about so much more than memorizing formulas and steps. We will focus on the underlying concepts behind the mechanics in each course as a way to more fully understand the content. Our small class sizes and applications-based curriculum allow us to tailor instruction to each student's individual interests and needs. In a traditional classroom, all students are required to work at the same pace; this does a disservice to those students who would like to work faster, or those who require additional help. We will work with students, on an individual basis, to customize their educational experience.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Earned-program. 96% 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 a large share of available resources goes toward mission work. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and expenses are high relative to revenue.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 62
- Transparency & Controls: 92
- Accountability: 90
- Sustainability: 31
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 69.3%; rating input score 69
- Program expense ratio: 71%; rating input score 71
- 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; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 6 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 75
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Fail
- Document-retention policy: Fail
- CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Other executive compensation review process: Pass
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 2.3%; rating input score 43; 43rd percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.46; rating input score 21; 21st percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.74; rating input score 10; 10th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 12.5%; rating input score 29; 29th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 32.4% per year; rating input score 100; 91st percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 35% per year; rating input score 100; 94th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 23.4% per year; rating input score 100; 86th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 69.3% of revenue deployed · 71% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 8 of 8 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $917K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $91K · 10 people listed
- Consistency: 24 of 24 current checks pass
- Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 4 filing years from 2021 to 2024
- 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.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 8 not reported.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 43/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 21/100.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 10/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 29/100.