Empower Generations High School

Legal name: Empower Generations

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
813281557
IRS 990 coverage
2017–2024
Official website data refreshed
Jul 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Lancaster, CA, US
Phone
661-429-3264
Rating
81
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Elementary, Secondary Education, K - 12

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$1,743,615
Expenses
$1,595,215
Assets
$1,782,819
Liabilities
$1,382,833

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

Leadership & pay

4 people listed

Highest reported compensation

  • SAJAE DAVISON (SCHOOL DIRECTOR): $173,083 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Free to Think. Inspired to Lead.

What it reported doing in 2024

Empower generations is a free public charter school that supports pregnant and parenting teens to meet their individual goals through a whole person, whole family approach. The vision of empower generations is that all learners will possess the knowledge, skills, and confidence to achieve health and wellness, raise healthy and happy children, master academic standards and develop a deep understanding of subject matter, and collaborate effectively with the community in which they live. All learners will graduate with awareness of and preparedness for the endless possibilities of their future while meeting rigorous and attainable graduation requirements.

Operating model

Revenue model
Grant-funded. 91% of the money available for current operations came from government grants.
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

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 84
  • Transparency & Controls: 71
  • Accountability: 95
  • Sustainability: 46
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 80%; rating input score 80
  • Program expense ratio: 87.1%; rating input score 87
  • Fundraising efficiency: $329.53 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 94; 94th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd 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: Pass
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 7 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 88
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: Pass
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Fail
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 8.5%; rating input score 58; 58th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.12; rating input score 46; 46th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.78; rating input score 9; 9th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 10.9%; rating input score 34; 34th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 12.3% per year; rating input score 100; 69th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 8.2% per year; rating input score 100; 60th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 20.2% per year; rating input score 100; 82nd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 1 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
  • Where the money goes: 80% of revenue deployed · 87.1% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 3 of 3 board members independent · 7 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $1.4M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $173K · 4 people listed · 2 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 2 contractors listed · $542K reported
  • Consistency: 31 of 31 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes executive pay
  • Filing history: 8 filing years from 2017 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • 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.

  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Audit committee oversight not reported.
  • Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 58/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 46/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 9/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 34/100.