Boulder School for German Language and Culture

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
474800006
IRS 990 coverage
2023–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2022, Form 990-N 2017
Location
Boulder, CO, USA
Phone
7203161033
Rating
74
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Humanities Organizations

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$233,203
Expenses
$250,647
Assets
$178,123
Liabilities
$36,360

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

9 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Birgit Priester (President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Birgit Priester (President): $42,010 total reported compensation
  • Gisela Barrett (VP Communications): $19,611 total reported compensation
  • Simone George (Advancement Officer): $9,937 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Provide in-person German language courses to children and teens in and around the Boulder Colorado area as this is not a language provided by the local schools. Other schools are in Denver area but not convenient for children/teens to attend in-person. The school also provides online German language courses to adults in and around the Boulder Colorado area but allow adults from anywhere to attend the online courses. The school also provides some in-person courses for adults based on interest. Our language classes are open to students of all ages and skill levels The school provides adults the opportunity to take the A1 and A2 exams. Passing the A1 exam allows a student to request a visa to live in and passing the A2 is one of the criteria needed for seeking employment in Germany. The school provides teens the opportunity to take exams that if passed would allow Students to apply for admission to a German university.

What it reported doing in 2025

To cultivate an understanding and appreciation for the German culture, events are held during the year that are meant to be fun mostly for children and parents. The school held a Maifest event, St Martins or Lantern Walk event, and Lichterfest event this year. Due to the changing demographics of our students the school changed the name of the St Nicholas event to Lichterfest to be more inclusive of those that do not celebrate Christmas. The cost increased this year over past years as the events were larger and more students attended. The school does not charge for the events but relies on donations taken during the event. Some supplies are donated as well to help reduce the costs. Donations were up this year from prior years as the School added the ability to pay with credit card at the events. We have not normally tracked the number of attendees but plan to have attendees register in advance in 2025 to help with determining the popularity of these events and the cost benefit of each event

Operating model

Revenue model
Other-operating. 92% of the money available for current operations came from other operating 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. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 80
  • Transparency & Controls: 90
  • Accountability: 45
  • Sustainability: 23
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 90%; rating input score 90
  • Program expense ratio: 83.5%; rating input score 83
  • Fundraising efficiency: $6.07 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 25; 25th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 62.5%; rating input score 62; 20th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 2 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 22
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: Fail
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -7.5%; rating input score 22; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.71; rating input score 32; 32nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.2; rating input score 16; 16th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 34.5%; rating input score 8; 8th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 24.1% per year; rating input score 100; 86th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 8.7% per year; rating input score 100; 65th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 12.4% per year; rating input score 100; 69th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 90% of revenue deployed · 83.5% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 5 of 8 board members independent · 2 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $209K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $42K · 9 people listed
  • Consistency: 39 of 39 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 3 filing years from 2023 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 9 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 — Accountability: Governance controls: 6 of 8 not reported.
  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 25/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 22/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 32/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 8/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 16/100.