Cherokee Christian Schools
Legal name: Cherokee Christian Schools Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 582337629
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2022–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Woodstock, GA, United States
- Phone
- (678) 494-5464
- Rating
- 80
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Standard
- Sector
- Elementary, Secondary Education, K - 12
- Affiliation
- Christianity
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $5,163,569
- Expenses
- $6,003,752
- Assets
- $4,519,467
- Liabilities
- $5,378,649
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
5 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Dr Richard Goff (CEO & Head of School)
Highest reported compensation
- James F Sweeney (CFO, Secretary & Director of Finance and Advancement): $112,754 total reported compensation
- Dr Richard Goff (CEO & Head of School): $55,000 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Cherokee Christian Schools exists to impart the knowledge, tools, and skills students need to walk wisely and serve redemptively in God’s world, preparing them for a life of fruitful service and faithfulness to the Lord. As our Academic Dean, Mr. Sweeney plays a pivotal role in ensuring academic excellence, fostering a culture of intellectual curiosity, and aligning all educational efforts with our mission. The Academic Dean develops and oversees implementation of the vision and strategy for the school’s comprehensive PreK-12 academic programs. This includes the evaluation and selection of curriculum, assessment and direction of teacher pedagogy, and monitoring and measurement of overall performance of academic programs. The Academic Dean also provides oversight and coordination for school accreditation, standardized testing, and academic support programs. In his prior career, Mr....
What it reported doing in 2024
Cherokee christian school is a biblically-based, classically-aligned, christ-centered, independent, non-denominational, covenant school that partners with like-minded christian families to educate students in grades prek-12. The school is driven by the following three primary objectives: instilling conviction, promoting excellence, and cultivating joy.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Other-operating. 90% of the money available for current operations came from other operating revenue.
- Distribution model
- Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 76% for direct work, and 24% for grants.
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 some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 81
- Transparency & Controls: 100
- Accountability: 82
- Sustainability: 21
- Growth: 0
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 95.2%; rating input score 95
- Program expense ratio: 81.9%; rating input score 82
- Fundraising efficiency: $2.94 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 8; 8th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: Limited
- 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: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 5 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 56
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Fail
- Document-retention policy: Fail
- 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: -16.3%; rating input score 9; 9th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.75; rating input score 28; 28th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 1.19; rating input score 3; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 2.8%; rating input score 70; 70th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: -0.9% per year; rating input score 0; 11th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: -5.2% per year; rating input score 0; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: -15.6% per year; rating input score 0; 1st percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 1 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
- Where the money goes: 95.2% of revenue deployed · 81.9% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 3 of 3 board members independent · 5 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $4.9M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $113K · 5 people listed
- Highest-paid contractors: 1 contractor listed · $119K reported
- Consistency: 34 of 34 current checks pass
- Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
- Filing history: 3 filing years from 2022 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 2 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 8/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 4 of 9 not reported.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 9/100.
- High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
- High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 28/100.
- High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 3/100.