Crestone Charter School

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
841314538
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Crestone, CO, USA
Phone
7192564907
Rating
73
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Primary, Elementary Schools

Reported finances

Revenue
$2,879,008
Expenses
$2,949,715
Assets
$8,246,397
Liabilities
$3,047,196

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

Leadership & pay

5 people listed

Highest reported compensation

  • THOMAS A CLEARY (Executive Dir.): $54,393 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Crestone charter school is a k-12 non-graded school educating students with diverse methods applicable to the proficiency-based education with an outdoor component.

What it reported doing in 2024

The School returned to normal operations in 2023 following several years of modified services during COVID. All students and staff resumed in-person learning full-time on campus. We were able to return to our mission-driven experiential educational programming, including our beginning of year all-school 3 day overnight campout, and our regular field trips throughout the year, as well as our end of year trips. Our entire high school class was able to travel to Brazil for two weeks as part of our international travel program. We rebuilt our community involvement, bringing back events such as art shows, ecstatic dance, theater productions, and community meals. We increased parent volunteerism after several years of not having parents in the building at all because of COVID. We utilized much-needed State, Local, and Federal Recovery Funds to support student and staff emotional and physical wellness programs. We also provided a 3 day retreat in the fall of 2023 for staff at an off campus location for professional development and planning in preparation for the 23-24 school year as we knew it would require a lot of extra support returning to school after such a long period of disruption from the COVID years. By the end of the school year, staff, students, and families reported feeling much stronger and more in sync with traditional school and were well prepared to meet the challenges the year brought. The transition to in-person learning was deemed a success.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 80% 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 - The filed numbers largely add up and a large share of available resources goes toward mission work. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and revenue has declined or grown slowly.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 63
  • Transparency & Controls: 90
  • Accountability: 79
  • Sustainability: 45
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 71.2%; rating input score 71
  • Program expense ratio: 70.5%; rating input score 70
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

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: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 4 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • 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: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -2.5%; rating input score 25; 25th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.8; rating input score 72; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.37; rating input score 29; 29th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 1.8%; rating input score 77; 77th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 8.1% per year; rating input score 100; 56th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -0.6% per year; rating input score 0; 10th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 19.1% per year; rating input score 100; 82nd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 71.2% of revenue deployed · 70.5% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 4 of 4 board members independent · 4 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $2.1M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $54K · 5 people listed
  • Consistency: 31 of 31 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 15 filing years from 2010 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • 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.

  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 4 of 8 not reported.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 25/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 29/100.