Blue Ridge Academy

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
821850228
IRS 990 coverage
2017–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Maricopa, CA, USA
Phone
6269321802
Rating
77
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Charter Schools

Reported finances

Revenue
$111,620,202
Expenses
$106,058,502
Assets
$24,694,566
Liabilities
$10,944,447

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

Leadership & pay

23 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • ARLENE NELSON (President)

Highest reported compensation

  • SAMANTHA HAYNES (Executive Dir.): $298,535 total reported compensation
  • LORETTA BURNS (SPED DIR/VICE PRIN): $274,890 total reported compensation
  • GIOVANNA ARZAGA (DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS): $215,984 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Provide a high standard of education to students through comprehensive curriculum supported by energetic, dynamic, and caring teachers.

What it reported doing in 2024

Provide a virtual curriculum model that emphasizes meeting individual students' needs for meeting the California common core state standards for their grade level.

Operating model

Revenue model
Grant-funded. 100% of the money available for current operations came from government grants.
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. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 79
  • Transparency & Controls: 70
  • Accountability: 90
  • Sustainability: 37
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 87.3%; rating input score 87
  • Program expense ratio: 91.9%; rating input score 92
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 68th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 1 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 17
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • 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; 77th 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: 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: Fail
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 5%; rating input score 56; 56th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.23; rating input score 7; 7th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.44; rating input score 41; 41st percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 3.5%; rating input score 31; 31st percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 13.2% per year; rating input score 100; 84th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 11.8% per year; rating input score 100; 83rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 12.5% per year; rating input score 100; 80th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 87.3% of revenue deployed · 91.9% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 4 of 4 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $97.4M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $299K · 23 people listed · 1 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $4.8M reported
  • Consistency: 29 of 29 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 5 filing years from 2017 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 19 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 1 filed related-organization link
  • 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.

Grant-readiness screening is separate from the live rating, not a measure of program quality. Review the source records before making a grant decision.

  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 8 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 7/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 56/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 31/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 41/100.
  • Review — Grant Readiness: California registration: this organization could not be resolved against the register, so the check is unfinished.