Fiddlehead School of Arts & Sciences
Legal name: Fiddlehead School
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 462313240
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2013–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Gray, Maine, USA
- Phone
- (207) 688-3727
- Rating
- 83
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Charter Schools
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $2,845,526
- Expenses
- $3,005,261
- Assets
- $1,958,004
- Liabilities
- $1,564,646
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
7 people listed
Highest reported compensation
- JACINDA COTTON-CASTRO (EXECUTIVE DI): $105,897 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Fiddlehead is a free, public charter school that seeks to make quality education accessible to all learners. We nurture each child's potential through a respectful, inclusive culture that fosters wonder and a love of learning. We do so by facilitating an interdisciplinary exploration of the arts and sciences, empowering learners to shape their lives and enrich their communities.
What it reported doing in 2024
Fiddlehead schools is a public charter school that opened in fall 2013. It provides education to approximately 189 children from 15 school districts from pre-k through grade 8. The principles of the inspiration of the reggio emilia approach guide teaching and learning at fiddlehead school: the image of the child, children's relationships and interactions within a system, the role of families, the role of space, teachers and children as partners in learning. At fiddlehead, children demonstrate competency in literacy, mathematics, science, visual and performing arts, and a foreign language. Mission of instructional services program: fiddlehead schools is a public charter that provides education from pre-k through grade 8. The principles of the reggio emilia approach guide teaching and learning at fiddlehead school at the early childhood ages from grades pre-k to 2nd grade: in grades 3rd through 5th our approach is more inquiry based; and in the upper grades our approach is project & placed based. Through these instructional approaches, our goal is to develop the whole child/whole student.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Earned-program. 94% 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
STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Expenses are high relative to revenue and total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 76
- Transparency & Controls: 92
- Accountability: 95
- Sustainability: 25
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 86.5%; rating input score 87
- Program expense ratio: 82%; rating input score 82
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: Limited
- 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: 7 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 88
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Fail
- 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: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -5.6%; rating input score 19; 19th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.65; rating input score 24; 24th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.8; rating input score 10; 10th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 3.5%; rating input score 65; 65th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 13.9% per year; rating input score 100; 75th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 12.4% per year; rating input score 100; 76th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 22.1% per year; rating input score 100; 87th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 3 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
- Where the money goes: 86.5% of revenue deployed · 82% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 6 of 6 board members independent · 7 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $2.5M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $106K · 7 people listed
- Consistency: 28 of 28 current checks pass
- Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 12 filing years from 2013 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.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 19/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 24/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Document-retention policy not reported.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 10/100.