Field Station Cooperative Incorporated

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
611489981
IRS 990 coverage
2009–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2021
Location
Porter, IN, USA
Phone
2199262500
Rating
82
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Kindergarten, Preschool, Nursery School, Early Admissions

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$197,484
Expenses
$238,725
Assets
$134,638
Liabilities
$2,015

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

Leadership & pay

6 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Laurie Metz (Executive Director)
  • Taylor Devore (President)
  • Alicia McDaniel (Vice President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Laurie Metz (Executive Director): $18,325 total reported compensation
  • Kira Geiss (Finance Director): $4,084 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

A cooperative preschool that creates sustainable educational programs based on nature study. The co-op works to develop the students love of learning, social skills, creativity, and respect for our environment.

What it reported doing in 2024

The field station preschool program offers 2-day and 3-day classes for groups of 3-year old and 4 5-year old children. The program features environmental themes promoting respect for nature and all appropriate skills needed for kindergarten. 2-day, 3-day and 5-day classes combined had approximately 80 participants.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 81% 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. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 85
  • Transparency & Controls: 90
  • Accountability: 72
  • Sustainability: 23
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 86.7%; rating input score 87
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 80%; rating input score 80; 21st percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 5 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 62
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -20.9%; rating input score 14; 14th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.56; rating input score 27; 27th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.01; rating input score 42; 42nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 9.4%; rating input score 29; 29th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 5.2% per year; rating input score 100; 55th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 2.6% per year; rating input score 100; 38th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 5.8% per year; rating input score 100; 51st percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 86.7% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 8 of 10 board members independent · 5 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $207K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $18K · 6 people listed
  • Consistency: 22 of 22 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 15 filing years from 2009 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 5 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.

  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 14/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 27/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 29/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 42/100.