Educationsuperhighway

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN: 455240576
IRS 990 coverage: 2012–2025
Forms available: Form 990 2025
Location: San Francisco, CA, USA
Phone: 4152751307
Rating: 72
Verdict: SUPPORTED
Rating confidence: Moderate
Sector: Educational Services and Schools - Other

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue: $224,396
Expenses: $2,040,241
Assets: $309,680
Liabilities: $41,735

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

8 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

EVAN MARWELL (CEO)

Highest reported compensation

SEAN GERNER (VP, BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT): $150,912 total reported compensation
ERIC ZAN (PROGRAM DIRECTOR): $131,027 total reported compensation
BRIONY MACPHEE LYON (DIR. PROGRAM OPERATIONS): $119,167 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

For most of 2025, our mission was to close the digital divide for the 18 million households that have access to the internet but can't afford to connect. At the end of the year, we changed our mission to become a scholarship granting organization (sgo) focused on closing the k-12 literacy gap by providing literacy tutoring scholarships to students reading below grade level.

What it reported doing in 2025

In 2025, the organization finished its 2.0 mission to close the broadband affordability gap and launched its 3.0 mission to close the k-12 literacy gap. Specific accomplishments include:1. Convincing the trump administration to include mdu connectivity in the allowable use of bead ndf funds.2. Partnering with states to help them create mdu connectivity budgets for bead ndf funds.3. Changing the organization's charter to become a scholarship granting organization (sgo) and being approved as an sgo in Virginia - the first state to submit an approved sgo list.

Operating model

Revenue model: Earned-program. 63% 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 - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

Financial Efficiency: 86
Transparency & Controls: 70
Accountability: 72
Sustainability: 7
Growth: 40

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
Program expense ratio: 90%; rating input score 90
Fundraising efficiency: $1.54 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 8; 8th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
Pay-setting controls: 1 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 17
- Compensation committee: Missing
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
- Written employment contract: Missing
- Compensation survey or study: Missing
- 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: 66.7%; rating input score 67; 21st percentile among comparable filings
Governance controls: 7 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 78
- 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: Missing
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

Operating margin: -809.2%; rating input score 0; 0th percentile among comparable filings
Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.15; rating input score 10; 10th percentile among comparable filings
Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.13; rating input score 20; 20th percentile among comparable filings
Officer compensation ratio: 23.7%; rating input score 15; 15th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

Program expense growth: 2.3% per year; rating input score 100; 38th percentile among comparable filings
Revenue growth: -6.7% per year; rating input score 0; 7th percentile among comparable filings
Asset growth: -3% per year; rating input score 0; 13th percentile among comparable filings

Details

Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 90% of spending went to programs
Governance: 2 of 3 board members independent · 7 of 9 filing controls reported
Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $1.8M in reported program spending
Leadership: top reported pay $151K · 8 people listed · 1 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
Consistency: 23 of 23 current checks pass
Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
Filing history: 13 filing years from 2012 to 2025
Contacts: How to reach this organization
Money network: 4 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.

High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 8/100.
High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 0/100.
High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 10/100.
Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 15/100.
High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 20/100.