Block Institute School
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 112338345
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2009–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Brooklyn, NY, USA
- Phone
- 7189065440
- Rating
- 70
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Specialized Education Institutions
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $9,977,752
- Expenses
- $9,188,689
- Assets
- $2,079,637
- Liabilities
- $2,469,455
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
15 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- JILL ZELENKO CPA (PRESIDENT)
- STEVEN FRIEDMAN (VICE PRESIDENT)
- SCOTT BARKIN (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)
Highest reported compensation
- SCOTT BARKIN (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $507,209 total reported compensation
- CHRISTINE JOSEPH (DIRECTOR OF FINANCE): $176,114 total reported compensation
- CAROL HOPKOVITZ (TEACHER): $147,193 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Block institute school's mission is to provide educational & therapeutic services to children with a variety of developmental disabilities & neurological disorders an integrated & segregated classroom settings.
What it reported doing in 2024
Educational services - provided special education services to 253 preschool children with developmental disabilities in accordance with their individualized education program. The children also received mandated on-site clinical services including speech, occupational, and physical therapy, as well as counseling services from psychologists.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Earned-program. 94% 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 most voting board members are independent. Few specific pay-setting methods are documented in the filing; unanswered boxes are not proof of absence and program spending has declined or grown slowly.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 76
- Transparency & Controls: 60
- Accountability: 100
- Sustainability: 34
- Growth: 0
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 83.4%; rating input score 83
- Program expense ratio: 90.5%; rating input score 91
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd 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: Limited
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd 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: 7.9%; rating input score 58; 58th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.23; rating input score 7; 7th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 1.19; rating input score 3; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 8.2%; rating input score 36; 36th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: -1.2% per year; rating input score 0; 10th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: -0% per year; rating input score 0; 11th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: -2.1% per year; rating input score 0; 7th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 83.4% of revenue deployed · 90.5% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 8 of 8 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $8.3M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $507K · 15 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 1 contractor listed · $1.1M reported
- Consistency: 29 of 29 current checks pass
- Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes executive pay
- Filing history: 14 filing years from 2009 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 7 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 4 filed related-organization links
- 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.
- Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.
Key Signals
Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.
- High — Transparency & Controls: Pay-setting controls scored 0/100.
- High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
- High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 7/100.
- High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 58/100.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 3/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 36/100.