Curtis School
Legal name: Curtis School Foundation
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 510188298
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2009–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Los Angeles, CA, US
- Phone
- (310) 476-1251
- Rating
- 79
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $31,033,595
- Expenses
- $22,908,513
- Assets
- $128,741,292
- Liabilities
- $48,073,837
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
26 people listed
Highest reported compensation
- MEERA RATNESAR (HEAD OF SCHOOL): $533,805 total reported compensation
- BRIAN HOLLIS (CFO): $264,965 total reported compensation
- SARAH TINSLEY (COO): $231,735 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Central to our mission is our commitment to providing an exceptional and well-rounded education for the whole child. We place an equal emphasis on academic, physical, social-emotional, and character education and instill a growth mindset modeled by Faculty and Staff who are the best in their craft.
What it reported doing in 2024
The foundation operates a primary school for developmental kindergarten through the sixth grade. There were 495 students enrolled during the 2024-2025 school year.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Earned-program. 71% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program 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.
- Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.
The verdict
SUPPORTED - The filed numbers largely add up and a large share of total spending goes to programs. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 61
- Transparency & Controls: 87
- Accountability: 100
- Sustainability: 74
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 58%; rating input score 58
- Program expense ratio: 75.9%; rating input score 76
- Fundraising efficiency: $7.55 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 31; 31st percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 4 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 67
- Compensation committee: Missing
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
- Written employment contract: Pass
- Compensation survey or study: Pass
- Board or committee approval: Pass
- 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; 66th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 9 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 100
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: Pass
- Other executive compensation review process: Pass
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 26.2%; rating input score 86; 86th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 5.62; rating input score 86; 86th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.37; rating input score 39; 39th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 7.8%; rating input score 31; 31st percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 3.6% per year; rating input score 100; 30th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 4.8% per year; rating input score 100; 42nd percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 8.4% per year; rating input score 100; 57th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 2 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
- Where the money goes: 58% of revenue deployed · 75.9% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 19 of 19 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $17.4M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $534K · 26 people listed · 4 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $8.7M reported
- Consistency: 35 of 35 current checks pass
- Schedules: 10 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
- Filing history: 16 filing years from 2009 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 7 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
- 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.
- Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.
Key Signals
Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.
- Review — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 58/100.
- Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 31/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 31/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 39/100.