Bright Stars Montessori
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 812068983
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2017–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2016
- Location
- Bellevue, WA, USA
- Phone
- 4255057147
- Rating
- 67
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Kindergarten, Preschool, Nursery School, Early Admissions
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $1,240,030
- Expenses
- $1,104,962
- Assets
- $609,816
- Liabilities
- $1,934
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
5 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Archana Manchale (President)
Highest reported compensation
- Archana Manchale (President): $225,000 total reported compensation
- Mansi Kanakia (Treasurer): $225,000 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
We provide a loving, supportive and thoughtfully prepared learning environment which instills coordination, concentration, a sense of order and independence in each child. Our Montessori approach values the human spirit and development of the whole child - physical, social, emotional and cognitive. Our teachers strive to cultivate each child's natural desire to learn and master skills , show responsibility, cooperation and respect for each other, thus preparing them for life. Multiage groupings encourage younger children to learn from older ones, while older children reinforce their learnings by teaching concepts they have already mastered. Our preschool/kindergarten program includes: Practical Life, Sensorial, Math, Language, Art, Music, Geography, Science, Movement and Nature Study.
What it reported doing in 2025
To provide high quality early childhood education in an environment focused on learning and discovery at a low price affordable to parents in the community
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Earned-program. 100% 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. 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: 71
- Transparency & Controls: 77
- Accountability: 40
- Sustainability: 44
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 75.6%; rating input score 76
- Program expense ratio: 85%; rating input score 85
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
- Compensation committee: Pass
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
- Written employment contract: Pass
- Compensation survey or study: Missing
- Board or committee approval: Pass
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: Limited
- Major donor itemization: Limited
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 60%; rating input score 60; 16th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 1 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 11
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
- Whistleblower policy: Fail
- Document-retention policy: Fail
- CEO compensation review process: Fail
- Other executive compensation review process: Pass
- Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
- Board meeting minutes documented: Fail
- Audit committee oversight: Missing
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 10.9%; rating input score 58; 58th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.55; rating input score 27; 27th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 68; 68th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 40.7%; rating input score 4; 4th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 19.9% per year; rating input score 100; 79th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 21.1% per year; rating input score 100; 84th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 30.4% per year; rating input score 100; 89th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 75.6% of revenue deployed · 85% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 3 of 5 board members independent · 1 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $940K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $225K · 5 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Consistency: 22 of 22 current checks pass
- Schedules: 3 filed schedules · includes executive pay
- Filing history: 9 filing years from 2017 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 4 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.
- 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 — Accountability: Governance controls: 7 of 8 not reported.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 27/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 58/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 4/100.