Financial Scholars Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
854254020
IRS 990 coverage
2022–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Philadelphia, PA, USA
Rating
78
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Educational Services and Schools - Other

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$1,113,417
Expenses
$1,004,905
Assets
$897,170
Liabilities
$71,444

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

Leadership & pay

3 people listed

Highest reported compensation

  • KERRY WOODWARD (EXECUTIVE DI): $223,667 total reported compensation
  • DANIELLE HERNANDEZ (PROGRAM DIRE): $140,815 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Financial scholars provides high school students, teachers, and families with the tools needed to develop financial skills, build greater wealth, and achieve financial empowerment.

What it reported doing in 2024

Financial scholars, inc. (the organization) implements a four-part strategy to provide high school students and their families with the tools needed to generate greater wealth and achieve financial empowerment. The components of the strategy include: 1)in-class personal finance instruction based on a high-quality, standards-aligned, evidence-based curriculum from next gen personal finance, as well as 30 hours of act 48-approved, paid professional development for participating teachers to support a credit-bearing high school class called personal finance; 2)investing and entrepreneurship enrichment programming that mobilizes paid university students and corporate volunteers to support students in small group settings in preparation for citywide competitions; 3)paid summer career exploration including a rotational learning experienceship program with local corporations and a university-hosted business incubator camp; and 4)financial empowerment and financial aid adult programming, which offers two six-week virtual workshop series and bonus sessions to parents and other school community members.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 100% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
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.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

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 total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 70
  • Transparency & Controls: 75
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 46
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 71%; rating input score 71
  • Program expense ratio: 78.6%; rating input score 79
  • Fundraising efficiency: $10.62 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 40; 40th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 91.7%; rating input score 92; 12th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • 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: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 9 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 100
    • 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: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 9.7%; rating input score 61; 61st percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.89; rating input score 39; 39th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.08; rating input score 46; 46th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 36.3%; rating input score 4; 4th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 37.6% per year; rating input score 100; 93rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 28.6% per year; rating input score 100; 91st percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 49.6% per year; rating input score 100; 96th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 71% of revenue deployed · 78.6% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 8 of 8 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $790K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $224K · 3 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 26 of 27 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 3 filing years from 2022 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 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.

  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 40/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 39/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 4/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 46/100.