Charter School Financing Partnership Llc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
261521682
IRS 990 coverage
2011–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Boston, MA, USA
Phone
6177201999
Rating
56
Verdict
MIXED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Fund Raising and/or Fund Distribution

Reported finances

Revenue
$732,445
Expenses
$128,313
Assets
$17,154,396
Liabilities
$12,884

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

7 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • CATHERINE RODRIGUEZ (PRESIDENT)

People named in this filing

  • SARA VERNON STERMAN (CHAIR)
  • ERIC CHATMAN (SECRETARY/TREASURER)
  • JENNIFER NOVAK (BOARD MANAGER)

Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Charter school financing partnership, llc (csfp) is organized and operated exclusively encourage, facilitate, and assist in the financing of charter schools and all educational activities related thereto. The housing partnership network, inc. And five of its members, who are leading lenders to charter schools, joined together to create csfp - a groundbreaking vehicle to access secondary market financing for charter schools that serve disadvantaged students and communities.

What it reported doing in 2025

Csfp provides credit enhancement for charter school facilities throughout the country by providing interest free debt service reserve funding, loans, credit enhancement agreements, and loan guarantees by using a combination of grant funds from the u.s. Department of education and proceeds of a program related investment from the walton family foundation. Csfp has deployed over $14.5 million in credit enhancement funds, leveraging more than $165 million in financing for schools serving over 6,600 students in under-served communities.

Operating model

Revenue model
Grant-funded. 76% 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

MIXED - Most voting board members are independent and the filed numbers largely add up. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and few specific pay-setting methods are documented in the filing; unanswered boxes are not proof of absence.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 29
  • Transparency & Controls: 65
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 93
  • Growth: 0

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 11.5%; rating input score 12
  • Program expense ratio: 67%; rating input score 67
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd 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: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 7 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 100
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 82.5%; rating input score 97; 97th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 133.69; rating input score 100; 100th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 73; 73rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 78; 78th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -19.7% per year; rating input score 0; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -19.9% per year; rating input score 0; 1st percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -1.3% per year; rating input score 0; 12th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 11.5% of revenue deployed · 67% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 6 of 6 board members independent · 7 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $86K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 7 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 18 of 18 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 15 filing years from 2011 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • 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: Mission deployment rate scored 12/100.
  • High — Transparency & Controls: Pay-setting controls scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.