Dc Charter School Alliance

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
522035104
IRS 990 coverage
2011–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Washington, DC, USA
Phone
2023870405
Rating
75
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Education N.E.C.

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$4,840,063
Expenses
$2,604,822
Assets
$4,536,573
Liabilities
$582,467

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

Leadership & pay

17 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • ARIEL JOHNSON (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)

Highest reported compensation

  • ARIEL JOHNSON (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $307,142 total reported compensation
  • TAMERIA LEWIS SR DIRECTOR OF (GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS): $207,853 total reported compensation
  • RACHEL JOHNSTON (CHIEF OF STAFF): $178,307 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

To be the unifying voice for the district of columbia's public charter schools, driving strategic advocacy and promoting collective action to champion policies that advance a thriving high-quality education system for our diverse community of learners.

What it reported doing in 2024

School support: dc alliance's advocacy is strengthened by the success of the charter sector, which is closely tied to its school support work, focused on improving school quality. Dc alliance provides a range of support to its members, which consist of one hundred percent of the 68 non-profit organizations that operate 134 public charter schools in the district of columbia. Dc alliance brings school leaders together to learn from one another and share best practices; offers high-quality resources and programming aligned to its members' unqiue needs; connects them with partners; addresses immediate needs; and provides compliance and charter application/renewal support. One hundred percent of school leader members engaged in a variety of forums during 2024. Dc alliance hosted five monthly virtual local education agency leader's meetings, two in-person leader summits, and several leader-to-leader conversations on a variety of timely topics. Dc alliance launched two leadership cohorts for new school leaders and leaders of small schools, and four affinity spaces (academics, grants, communications, and student support) for school staff to collaborate. Dc alliance also developed numerous resources, led workshops and trainings, and provided one-on-one and sector-wide problem solving support.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 70% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
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 total spending goes to programs and the filed numbers largely add up. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 60
  • Transparency & Controls: 79
  • Accountability: 95
  • Sustainability: 66
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 44.9%; rating input score 45
  • Program expense ratio: 83.1%; rating input score 83
  • Fundraising efficiency: $25.35 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 65; 65th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • 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: 8 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 89
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • 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: 46.2%; rating input score 91; 91st percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.74; rating input score 57; 57th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.13; rating input score 54; 54th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 39.6%; rating input score 3; 3rd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 5.5% per year; rating input score 100; 42nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 6.2% per year; rating input score 100; 50th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 2.1% per year; rating input score 100; 20th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 44.9% of revenue deployed · 83.1% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 11 of 11 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $2.2M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $307K · 17 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 35 of 35 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 11 filing years from 2011 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 5 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.

  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 45/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Other executive compensation review process not reported.
  • Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 57/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 3/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 54/100.