Center for Educational Innovation Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
134113613
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
New York, NY, USA
Phone
2123028800
Rating
82
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Professional Societies, Associations

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$12,538,418
Expenses
$14,945,570
Assets
$13,749,197
Liabilities
$8,318,181

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

Leadership & pay

17 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Michael Kohlhagen (CEO, President)
  • Seymour Fliegel (President 12/24)

Highest reported compensation

  • Michael Kohlhagen (CEO, President): $340,184 total reported compensation
  • Dr Meisha Ross Porter (Vis. Sr. Fellow): $250,000 total reported compensation
  • Alexandra Leff (Dir. of Arts): $214,046 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Effective public education is essential to the success of a democratic society. Themission of Center for Educational Innovation, Inc. (CEI) is threefold:1) Assist public schools in New York City and other communities in improving thequality of public education. Our professional experience and expertise help schoolsto create more productive environments in which students thrive academically, socially and emotionally. With our support, schools develop better leadership, better teaching and better systems of accountability;2) Based upon CEI's work with individual schools, advocate for policies andpractices that will lead to successful schools;3) Provide information to the public about the importance of quality publiceducation and the means of achieving it. To those ends, CEI assists large schools torestructure into sets of smaller learning communities, works with teams to createand develop charter schools, trains principals in effective leadership skills, andfacilitates collaboration betwee

What it reported doing in 2024

Other programs - include school improvement activities through our field supportservices, grant funded academic and enrichment services such as NYC Immigrant andCASA funded enrichment and NYC DYCD Summer Rising, which are all consistent with themission of the Organization. The Organization is now a lead agency with contractsfor two NYC Community Schools. This citywide school improvement strategy supports services delivered by the lead agency, community partners and the school community.This organization's mission is aligned to this initiative and with a focus onacademic improvement, provides comprehensive support in all areas, aligned with thetraditional school day, coordinating all programs and services, and infuses itsphilosophy, with a focus on equity and innovation, to develop model communityschools in all neighborhoods. The Community Schools program supports the wholechild and the childs family, with learning both inside and outside of the classroom. The Organization supports the staffing to identify and coordinate all partnerships, delivery of direct academic and enrichment service including elements of ProjectBOOST, professional learning for school staff as well as all partners and theirstaff, the greater school community including parents. The lead agency works toseamlessly bridge the school day with before, during, and after school support tothe entire school community with strong measurable outcomes in all areas of childdevelopment, community, family engagement and academic achievement. This is amulti-year contract with the NYC Department of Education with potential for growthin the future.1) META/Meridian - CEIs Meridian (formerly META) program is funded by an Assistancefor Arts Education (AAE) $6M five-year grant awarded in 2021 by the Office ofElementary and Secondary Education of the United States Department of Education.Meridian is a professional learning program for K-5 teachers of students withdisabilities in New York City (NY), Rochester (NY), San Juan (PR), Baltimore (MD)and Bridgeport (CT). The program builds on the success of the Organizations ETAprogram and expands its scope by utilizing an art integrated, differentiatedcurriculum, and providing teachers with workshops, PLC sessions and modeling. Thecurriculum includes innovative projects in music and visual art that teach literacy and math and strengthen SEL skills. There are six versions of every project andmaterials include, curriculum maps, lessons, implementation slide decks, modelingvideos, resources, and materials, and supporting documents. Meridian also includes(1) training classroom teachers to be teacher leaders in arts integration and tofacilitate PLC sessions; (2) hosting national annual conferences to disseminate thework; and (3) building a digital repository of all curricular materials.2) Charter Schools - Given the history of the Organization and its foundersinfluence in the development of Charter School Law, Charter School Support remainsone of the main programs of the Organization.Following several cycles of federal funding sunsetting, the Organization continuesto support charter Boards and school leaders via school-based contracts and grantfunding to become highly effective and grow successful charter schools in three keyareas: Educational SuccessOrganizational SoundnessFaithfulness to Charter and LawWith alignment to the mission and continued focus on school transformation, theOrganization continues to support the development of new charters, lead the renewalof charters, and explore and lead the expansion of charter schools. TheOrganization continues its support of struggling charter schools with schoolimprovement planning and implementation. With several long-term whole school reformprojects and multiple short-term engagements, the Organization continues its focus on leadership development, supporting improved performance as well as compliancewith autonomy to achieve continuous academic improvement with alignment to publicschool accoun

Operating model

Revenue model
Grant-funded. 88% 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.

The verdict

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Expenses are high relative to revenue and program spending has declined or grown slowly.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 91
  • Transparency & Controls: 84
  • Accountability: 90
  • Sustainability: 18
  • Growth: 20

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 85.7%; rating input score 86
  • Fundraising efficiency: $28.71 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 65; 65th 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: Pass
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 90.9%; rating input score 91; 23rd 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: -19.2%; rating input score 5; 5th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.92; rating input score 33; 33rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.6; rating input score 22; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 8.5%; rating input score 27; 27th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -2.3% per year; rating input score 0; 6th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -3.9% per year; rating input score 0; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 3.9% per year; rating input score 100; 28th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 85.7% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 10 of 11 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 5 filed program accomplishments · $12.8M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $340K · 17 people listed · 4 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $914K reported
  • Consistency: 30 of 30 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 14 filing years from 2010 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 — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 5/100.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 33/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Other executive compensation review process not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 22/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 27/100.
  • High — Grant Readiness: Federal audit findings: this organization reported findings in its latest federal Single Audit.