Charter Fund Inc D/b/a Charter School Growth Fund

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
050620063
IRS 990 coverage
2024–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-PF 2023, Form 990-T 2023
Location
Denver, CO, USA
Phone
3032178090
Rating
82
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Corporate Foundations

Reported finances

Revenue
$232,401,456
Expenses
$189,583,844
Assets
$720,288,020
Liabilities
$49,625,515

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

Leadership & pay

23 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • KEVIN HALL (PRESIDENT)
  • DARRYL COBB (VICE PRESIDENT)
  • JULIE MAIER (VICE PRESIDENT (THRU 1/24))

Highest reported compensation

  • KEVIN HALL (PRESIDENT): $657,208 total reported compensation
  • DARRYL COBB (VICE PRESIDENT): $507,476 total reported compensation
  • RICHARD BILLINGS (ASST SECRETARY (THRU 3/24), PARTNER): $354,908 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

The charter school growth fund identifies the country's best public charter schools, funds their expansion, and helps to increase their impact. We're driven by a conviction that all children deserve great public schools in their communities.

What it reported doing in 2024

Csgf only supports organizations that demonstrate an impact on underserved student populations and outstanding value-added academic gains. The fund focuses on geographic areas supportive of further expansion of charter schools. Csgf incurred $150,096,573 of grant expense to or for the benefit of charter schools and incurred additional charitable expenses of $31,194,910 during the calendar year ended december 31, 2024. In addition, csgf issued $ 29,530,047 of program-related investment (pri) loans to charter school management organizations during the calendar year ending december 31, 2024. See schedule i for a detailed listing of grants issued during the year.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 90% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Grant intermediary. The nonprofit sent 83% of its reported program spending out as grants.
  • 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. Some filed totals do not add up and reported officer compensation is a large share of total spending, which may reflect staffing concentration.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 85
  • Transparency & Controls: 84
  • Accountability: 95
  • Sustainability: 81
  • Growth: NotEnoughData

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 77.9%; rating input score 78
  • Program expense ratio: 95.6%; rating input score 96
  • Fundraising efficiency: $247.52 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 91; 91st percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 93.8%; rating input score 94; 25th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 4 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 67
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • Independent consultant: Pass
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 95.6%; rating input score 96; 28th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 92.3%; rating input score 92; 41st percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 9 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 100
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: Pass
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 18.4%; rating input score 86; 86th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 3.8; rating input score 81; 81st percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.07; rating input score 86; 86th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 2.1%; rating input score 54; 54th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: Limited
  • Revenue growth: Limited
  • Asset growth: Limited

Details

  • Where the money goes: 77.9% of revenue deployed · 95.6% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 12 of 13 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $181.3M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $657K · 23 people listed · 4 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $3.1M reported
  • Consistency: 36 of 37 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 9 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 734 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 305 filed related-organization links
  • 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.

Grant-readiness screening is separate from the live rating, not a measure of program quality. Review the source records before making a grant decision.

  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 54/100.
  • High — Grant Readiness: Federal audit findings: this organization reported findings in its latest federal Single Audit.