Berkwood School

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
941408159
IRS 990 coverage
2011–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Berkeley, CA, USA
Phone
5108836990
Rating
67
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Primary, Elementary Schools

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$4,944,136
Expenses
$4,806,187
Assets
$3,452,705
Liabilities
$2,893,955

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

Leadership & pay

13 people listed

Highest reported compensation

  • Love Weinstock (Ex-officio Trustee Head of School): $260,491 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Berkwood Hedge School provides a hands-on developmental curriculum that promotes deep and intuitive learning. Students achieve academic excellence by becoming critical thinkers and creative problem solvers. Our teachers meet the needs of every child inspiring the joy of learning academic success intellectual excitement emotional well-being and creativity. Students leave Berkwood Hedge School prepared for success in high school and beyond. Our small cooperative community of students families and educators is committed to preserving the environment and promoting social justice within the school culture and the larger community. We are committed to strengthening diversity of all types including cultural ethnic racial learning style economic gender and family structure.

What it reported doing in 2024

Berkwood Hedge School operates a Kindergarten through eighth-grade full-time education program. Our schools constructivist approach is based on the understanding that children construct their knowledge of the world through active and collaborative exploration of their learning environment. Each day in our classrooms childrens natural curiosity motivates them to learn and grow as individuals. Our experienced teachers create child-centered environments with lively discussion collaboration social interaction and play. They understand that learning happens on a developmental continuum unique to each student and children proceed on individual timelines. The curriculum is built around themes that interest children and connect to their lives. Students are given time to question experiment and reflect deeply on the ideas they encounter as they explore literature mathematics science and the arts. Critical thinking skills develop as children actively pursue meaning independently and cooperatively. Through careful observation as well as more formal assessments teachers develop an awareness of what each child needs to help create meaning and understanding at every stage. Using this knowledge teachers provide tools experiences and purposeful instruction that challenge and engage students at just the right level helping all students learn and progress throughout the year.

Operating model

Revenue model
Other-operating. 94% of the money available for current operations came from other operating revenue.
Distribution model
Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 64% for direct work, and 36% for grants.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. A relatively small share of voting board members are independent and expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 69
  • Transparency & Controls: 88
  • Accountability: 31
  • Sustainability: 36
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 69.3%; rating input score 69
  • Program expense ratio: 71.3%; rating input score 71
  • Fundraising efficiency: $21.43 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 61; 61st percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 92.9%; rating input score 93; 13th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 5 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 83
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
    • Written employment contract: Pass
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 0%; rating input score 0; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 6 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 75
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • 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: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 2.8%; rating input score 44; 44th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.72; rating input score 27; 27th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.84; rating input score 9; 9th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 5.4%; rating input score 51; 51st percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 7.5% per year; rating input score 100; 53rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 6.9% per year; rating input score 100; 54th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 7.7% per year; rating input score 100; 48th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 69.3% of revenue deployed · 71.3% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 0 of 12 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $3.4M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $260K · 13 people listed · 5 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 42 of 43 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 13 filing years from 2011 to 2024
  • 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: Independent voting board scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 44/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 27/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 9/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Part IX FeesForServicesProfFundraising column sum did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 51/100.