Creekside Montessori Joyful Learning Center Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
820900331
IRS 990 coverage
2021–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2020, Form 990-T 2024, Form 990-N 2017
Location
Colorado City, AZ, USA
Phone
9286141541
Rating
69
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Primary, Elementary Schools

Reported finances

Revenue
$410,953
Expenses
$353,159
Assets
$464,405
Liabilities
$4,849

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

Leadership & pay

11 people listed

Highest reported compensation

  • Margaret Z Williams (Director): $66,249 total reported compensation
  • Cathy A Stubbs (Teacher): $34,198 total reported compensation
  • Samantha Hammon (Teacher): $33,249 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Creekside Montessori is here to work with families to create a peaceful community of diverse, respectful, self-motivated and independent learners who seek out and joyfully embrace academic and social opportunities.

What it reported doing in 2025

Creekside Montessori: Joyful Learning Community is a school established by parents and educators to meet the needs of a growing population of students who do not thrive in the traditional education system.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 100% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
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

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. A relatively small share of voting board members are independent and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 81
  • Transparency & Controls: 90
  • Accountability: 9
  • Sustainability: 49
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 85.3%; rating input score 85
  • Program expense ratio: 99.4%; rating input score 99
  • Fundraising efficiency: $1.98 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 9; 9th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 0%; rating input score 0; 8th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 2 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 22
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: Pass
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Fail
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 14.1%; rating input score 63; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.32; rating input score 48; 48th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.01; rating input score 39; 39th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 63.8%; rating input score 2; 2nd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 27.8% per year; rating input score 100; 88th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 21.1% per year; rating input score 100; 87th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 37.3% per year; rating input score 100; 93rd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 85.3% of revenue deployed · 99.4% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 0 of 1 board members independent · 2 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $351K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $66K · 11 people listed
  • Consistency: 22 of 22 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 5 filing years from 2021 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 15 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 — Accountability: Independent voting board scored 0/100.
  • High — Accountability: Governance controls: 6 of 8 not reported.
  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 9/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 48/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 2/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 39/100.