Buckingham Browne & Nichols School

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
042103751
IRS 990 coverage
2009–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024
Location
Cambridge, MA, USA
Phone
6175476100
Rating
80
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Elementary, Secondary Education, K - 12

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$76,664,692
Expenses
$73,936,254
Assets
$283,808,906
Liabilities
$89,368,060

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

Leadership & pay

38 people listed

Highest reported compensation

  • DR JENNIFER P PRICE (HEAD OF SCHOOL): $740,888 total reported compensation
  • TARA S GOHLMANN (COO/CFO): $523,872 total reported compensation
  • JED LIPPARD (CHIEF LEARNING OFFICER): $356,759 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

See schedule o

What it reported doing in 2024

Buckingham browne & nichols school (bb&n) is a prek-12 independent day school in cambridge, Massachusetts, enrolling 1,049 students who reside in 95 different towns and cities across the greater boston region. Bb&n is an academically excellent, diverse, and inclusive community where students develop into lifelong learners who lead with kindness, curiosity, and integrity. We prepare students to be responsible and open-minded as they engage with the world around them. Our community is unified through four core values: inquiry, through which we promote curiosity and critical thinking to inspire a lifelong love of learning; integrity, through which we strive to be honest, conscientious, and accountable in our actions even when no one is watching; belonging, through which we foster a culture of respect, well-being, and connection that values all individuals and empowers them to discover and be their authentic selves; and kindness, through which we strengthen our communities by recognizing our common humanity and treating ourselves and others with respect and compassion.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 88% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 81% 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.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

The verdict

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. The filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 77
  • Transparency & Controls: 77
  • Accountability: 91
  • Sustainability: 56
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 84.4%; rating input score 84
  • Program expense ratio: 86.5%; rating input score 87
  • Fundraising efficiency: $2.87 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 10; 10th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 68th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 5 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 83
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • Independent consultant: Pass
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Scored; rating input score 0
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 77th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 93.3%; rating input score 93; 44th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 8 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 89
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 3.6%; rating input score 50; 50th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 3.84; rating input score 81; 81st percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.31; rating input score 54; 54th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 4.2%; rating input score 23; 23rd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 5% per year; rating input score 100; 40th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 4.7% per year; rating input score 100; 39th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 5.7% per year; rating input score 100; 42nd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 84.4% of revenue deployed · 86.5% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 28 of 30 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $64M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $741K · 38 people listed · 5 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $4.1M reported
  • Consistency: 40 of 40 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 11 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 16 filing years from 2009 to 2024
  • 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 — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight scored 0/100.
  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 10/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 50/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Other executive compensation review process not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 23/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 54/100.