Drive One

What it reported doing in 2024

In late january, drive one relocated farther north to ray twp, Michigan. The program returned to where it all began in 2013: six-stall fab shop students call "the barn". It was at the barn that students completed their three-year build on a 1957 thunderbird. The number-matching, coral-sand-colored t-bird coined "one rare bird" was finished for its debut at the 71st annual detroit autorama the weekend of march 1st-3rd. The thunderbird finished 1st in high school custom against eight other area high schools and trade programs, and 2nd in domestic sports against several professional builds. A month after detroit, the students entered two other project vehicles in the ix piston-power autorama in cleveland the weekend of april 5th-7th. A group of ten students traveled to northeast Ohio for the weekend. Three students also entered their own 1/24 scale cars into the show's model car competition, where two of the models finished 1st and 3rd respectively. The real cars faired even better, with the '37 twin-engine dragster finishing 2nd in exhibition, and the '73 pontiac lemans finishing 1st in track comp.in april, students began working on two sprint cars for oval track competition in the mustseeracing lights series. The #1 and #11 sprint cars ran events at owosso, birch run, and corrigan oil (spartan) speedways, as well as two races at sandusky speedway and lorain raceway park in Ohio. The cars finished 8th and 11th in points respectively, with the #1 winning a pair of heat races at owosso speedway in august. Best of all, students current and former helped pit the cars during each of the races throughout the summer.over the hot summer months, students also restarted work on a 2003 ford focus svt that was donated in 2021 for students to race competively at local short tracks. Students worked at both the barn and at rick's tire and wheel to replace struts, control arms, steering knuckles, the clutch, and more for the vehicle to be race ready. Work on the focus continued through the fall and into 2025, where it will be entered into the detroit autorama before finally hitting the track next spring.in september, the student-built '76 chevy vega was selected as a finalist for the heritage cup at the 41st annual frankenmuth autofest. Michigan.in october, drive one was presented with a grant of $5,000 from the hagerty driver's foundation for use in transporting students to future competitions and for additional equipment needs. Drive one was also presented with $800 from the easy rodders car club for the same purposes. As a result, the program was able to overcome its new reduced footprint. The grants allowed for the purchase of a new four-post storage lift to free space in the barn, and acquire much needed replacement tools, including pliers, ratchets, socket sets, tool organizers, and grinding consumables.in november, work began on project vehicles for the 2025 show car season, including a 1902 oldsmobile runabout that would debut at detroit autorama in march 2025. As a whole 2024 saw drive one be reborn from the ashes with a group of dedicated students, and an increase in middle school and post-secondary participants.

Financial Efficiency

• Mission deployment rate: 94.6%; rating input score 95
• Program expense ratio: 73.7%; rating input score 74

Transparency & Controls

• Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
• Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100

Sustainability

• Operating margin: -28.4%; rating input score 19; 19th percentile among comparable filings
• Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.21; rating input score 51; 51st percentile among comparable filings
• Liabilities to assets ratio: 1.49; rating input score 4; 4th percentile among comparable filings
• Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 56; 56th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

• Program expense growth: -0.3% per year; rating input score 0; 47th percentile among comparable filings
• Revenue growth: 3.1% per year; rating input score 100; 65th percentile among comparable filings
• Asset growth: 15.8% per year; rating input score 100; 82nd percentile among comparable filings