Cornerstone Academy

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
651308343
IRS 990 coverage
2015–2019
Forms available
Form 990 2019
Location
Snohomish, WA, USA
Phone
4252384938
Rating
79
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Primary, Elementary Schools
Affiliation
Christianity

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$593,891
Expenses
$506,060
Assets
$159,905
Liabilities
$67,126

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2019. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

7 people listed

Highest reported compensation

  • Kristofer Hvattum (Dean of Students & Secondary Teacher): $62,000 total reported compensation
  • Tracy Whitfield (Director of Operations): $48,589 total reported compensation
  • Michelle Jones (Head of School): $17,736 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2019. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

The Cornerstone Academy is a classical christian school that is parent supported, student centered and powered by passionate educators.

What it reported doing in 2019

The curriculum and activities Cornerstone uses for the student's learning is very important to the long term success of meeting our graduation goals.

Operating model

Revenue model
Other-operating. 100% of the money available for current operations came from other operating revenue.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 88% 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

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 81
  • Transparency & Controls: 93
  • Accountability: 63
  • Sustainability: 42
  • Growth: 80

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 85.2%; rating input score 85
  • Program expense ratio: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 74th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 1 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 12
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 14.8%; rating input score 73; 73rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.32; rating input score 15; 15th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.42; rating input score 23; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 25.4%; rating input score 8; 8th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 9.3% per year; rating input score 100; 68th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 12% per year; rating input score 100; 77th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -3.5% per year; rating input score 0; 13th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 85.2% of revenue deployed · 100% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 7 of 7 board members independent · 1 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 6 filed program accomplishments · $506K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $62K · 7 people listed
  • Consistency: 20 of 20 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes grants
  • Filing history: 5 filing years from 2015 to 2019
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 3 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 — Accountability: Governance controls: 6 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 15/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 8/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 23/100.
  • High — Grant Readiness: Automatic revocation: this organization had its federal tax-exempt status automatically revoked.