Carolina Friends School

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
560812560
IRS 990 coverage
2009–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Durham, NC, USA
Phone
9193836602
Rating
84
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$17,605,330
Expenses
$18,532,732
Assets
$46,474,296
Liabilities
$10,420,708

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

Leadership & pay

23 people listed

Highest reported compensation

  • KAREN CUMBERBATCH (HEAD OF SCHOOL): $283,058 total reported compensation
  • JOHN SHARON (ASSISTANT HEAD OF SCHOOL LEARNING): $150,000 total reported compensation
  • ANNA FAATILIGA (DIRECTOR OF FINANCE): $93,854 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Carolina friends school is a vibrant and inclusive learning community empowering students to think critically, creatively, and independently. We foster active exploration and quiet reflection, individual endeavor and collaborative engagement. Inspired by quaker values pursuit of truth, respect for all, peaceful resolution of conflict, simplicity, the call to service, we teach our children that it is possible to change the world.

What it reported doing in 2024

Auxiliary services for carolina friends school include after-school care, summer programs, and enrichment programs. In addition to auxiliary services, expenses include those supporting sports programs, library services, and supporting learning needs. After-school care is offered in the lower and middle schools until 5:45 pm each school day. Our summer programs offer a variety of weekly camps to the community. The camps are extremely successful and provide an outreach to a wide variety of families in the area. There were approximately 1,114 students involved in auxiliary activities in school year 2024/2025. Many students are involved in more than one activity. Enrichment programs include after-school "fun shops" in art, science, sports, and music lessons. Peaceful schools nc provides professional development, consulting, student programs, and family support to foster positive relationships in school communities so that all members can thrive.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 85% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 83% 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. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 84
  • Transparency & Controls: 87
  • Accountability: 86
  • Sustainability: 42
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 95.3%; rating input score 95
  • Program expense ratio: 88.1%; rating input score 88
  • Fundraising efficiency: $3.82 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 15; 15th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 4 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 67
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Pass
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 85%; rating input score 85; 18th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 7 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 88
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • 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: -5.3%; rating input score 16; 16th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.51; rating input score 69; 69th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.22; rating input score 55; 55th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 2.8%; rating input score 69; 69th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 6.7% per year; rating input score 100; 54th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 3.9% per year; rating input score 100; 33rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 5.8% per year; rating input score 100; 41st percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 95.3% of revenue deployed · 88.1% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 17 of 20 board members independent · 7 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $16.3M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $283K · 23 people listed · 4 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 1 contractor listed · $264K reported
  • Consistency: 32 of 32 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 10 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 16 filing years from 2009 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 5 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 — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 15/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 16/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Other executive compensation review process not reported.
  • Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 55/100.