Athens Academy Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
586055242
IRS 990 coverage
2009–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Athens, GA, USA
Phone
7065499225
Rating
76
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Standard
Sector
Elementary, Secondary Education, K - 12

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$24,435,739
Expenses
$22,879,768
Assets
$73,346,629
Liabilities
$21,637,698

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

Leadership & pay

34 people listed

Highest reported compensation

  • John Thorsen (Head of School): $426,859 total reported compensation
  • Alan Weiler (Director of Finance and Operations): $154,100 total reported compensation
  • Susan Zalac (Director of Upper School): $115,100 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Athens Academy (the School) seeks excellence with honor in all its pursuits. Athens Academy is a coeducational, independent, college preparatory day school that offers a traditional liberal arts curriculum and innovative approaches to teaching and learning. The School seeks students from diverse

What it reported doing in 2024

Providing a quality education to the students attending The Academy.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 82% 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 - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Few specific pay-setting methods are documented in the filing; unanswered boxes are not proof of absence and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 67
  • Transparency & Controls: 69
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 61
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 69.5%; rating input score 70
  • Program expense ratio: 79.8%; rating input score 80
  • Fundraising efficiency: $4.18 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 16; 16th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 0 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 0
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Missing
  • 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: 9 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 100
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • 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: 6.4%; rating input score 58; 58th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 3.21; rating input score 77; 77th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.3; rating input score 47; 47th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 5%; rating input score 50; 50th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 4.4% per year; rating input score 100; 37th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 3.3% per year; rating input score 100; 28th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 5.3% per year; rating input score 100; 37th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 69.5% of revenue deployed · 79.8% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 25 of 25 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $18.3M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $427K · 34 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $4.1M reported
  • Consistency: 32 of 32 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 16 filing years from 2009 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 8 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.

  • High — Transparency & Controls: Pay-setting controls scored 0/100.
  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 16/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 58/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 47/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 50/100.