Distinctive Schools
Legal name: Distinctive Schools of Illinois
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 274967763
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2015–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Chicago, IL, US
- Phone
- 312-332-4998
- Rating
- 76
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Primary, Elementary Schools
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $60,065,732
- Expenses
- $59,673,574
- Assets
- $3,529,157
- Liabilities
- $1,660,999
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
20 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Scott Frauenheim (Chief Executive Officer)
- Katherine O'Connor (Vice President & Chief Education Officer)
- Jessica Paulsen (Vice President & Chief Strategy Officer)
- Stephanie R Barraza (Executive Director of Strategy)
- Whitney A Rosetti (Executive Director of HR & Talent)
Highest reported compensation
- Scott Frauenheim (Chief Executive Officer): $414,630 total reported compensation
- Katherine O'Connor (Vice President & Chief Education Officer): $306,155 total reported compensation
- David Sundstrom (Chief Administrative Officer): $270,876 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
At Distinctive Schools, we offer a unique public education experience where every student is seen, heard, and valued. We cultivate diverse, joyful, and welcoming communities rooted in social justice and rigorous learning.
What it reported doing in 2024
Provide educational opportunities for youth through management of charter schools serving kindergarten through eleventh grade students during the fiscal year June 30, 2025.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Earned-program. 99% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The filing allocates 99% 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 expenses are high relative to revenue.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 87
- Transparency & Controls: 79
- Accountability: 59
- Sustainability: 23
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 97.6%; rating input score 98
- Program expense ratio: 98.4%; rating input score 98
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 68th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 2 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 33
- Compensation committee: Missing
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
- Written employment contract: Missing
- Compensation survey or study: Pass
- Board or committee approval: Pass
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 77th percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 28.6%; rating input score 29; 10th 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: 0.7%; rating input score 35; 35th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.06; rating input score 2; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.47; rating input score 38; 38th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 6.1%; rating input score 10; 10th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 25.9% per year; rating input score 100; 95th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 24.9% per year; rating input score 100; 96th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 8% per year; rating input score 100; 59th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 3 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 2 operating locations identified
- Where the money goes: 97.6% of revenue deployed · 98.4% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 2 of 7 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $58.7M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $415K · 20 people listed · 2 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Consistency: 34 of 34 current checks pass
- Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
- Filing history: 8 filing years from 2015 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 20 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 2 filed related-organization links
- 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: Independent voting board scored 29/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 35/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 2/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 10/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 38/100.
- High — Grant Readiness: Federal audit findings: this organization reported findings in its latest federal Single Audit.