Career Academy of South Bend Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 273113436
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2015–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- South Bend, IN, USA
- Phone
- 5742715145
- Rating
- 75
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Charter Schools
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $27,750,745
- Expenses
- $29,196,120
- Assets
- $56,157,310
- Liabilities
- $51,739,715
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
12 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- LAWRENCE GARATONI (PRESIDENT)
- JEREMY LUGBILL (CEO)
Highest reported compensation
- JEREMY LUGBILL (CEO): $201,692 total reported compensation
- CANDIDA VAN BUSKIRK (SUPERINTENDENT): $161,120 total reported compensation
- DOUGLAS WARRINGTON (CFO): $105,418 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Career academy of south bend is a fully accredited charter public school which began serving students in grades k-12 in the fall of 2011. Its mission is to provide a quality alternative public education for students better served in a non-traditional environment.
What it reported doing in 2024
All income realized and expenses incurred in the operation of a charter school.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Grant-funded. 92% 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.
- Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.
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 expenses are high relative to revenue.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 79
- Transparency & Controls: 60
- Accountability: 91
- Sustainability: 36
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 90.9%; rating input score 91
- Program expense ratio: 86.4%; rating input score 86
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd 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; 66th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 7 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 78
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- 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: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -5.2%; rating input score 16; 16th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.92; rating input score 60; 60th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.92; rating input score 9; 9th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 1.6%; rating input score 80; 80th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 10.2% per year; rating input score 100; 71st percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 13.6% per year; rating input score 100; 84th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 9.4% per year; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 90.9% of revenue deployed · 86.4% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 9 of 9 board members independent · 7 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $25.2M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $202K · 12 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Consistency: 34 of 34 current checks pass
- Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes executive pay
- Filing history: 10 filing years from 2015 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 6 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.
Grant-readiness screening is separate from the live rating, not a measure of program quality. Review the source records before making a grant decision.
- High — Transparency & Controls: Pay-setting controls scored 0/100.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 16/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 9 not reported.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 9/100.
- High — Grant Readiness: Federal audit findings: this organization reported findings in its latest federal Single Audit.