Fountain Hills Charter School Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
860873245
IRS 990 coverage
2016–2017
Forms available
Form 990 2017
Location
Fountain Hills, AZ, USA
Phone
4808370046
Rating
71
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Charter Schools

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$589,407
Expenses
$795,100
Assets
$2,193,637
Liabilities
$2,567,500

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2017. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

6 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • DOUGLAS PIKE (PRESIDENT/CE)

People named in this filing

  • DOUGLAS PIKE (PRESIDENT/CE)
  • BIL ZELENY (TREASURER)
  • MICHAEL BASHAW (VICE PRESIDE)

Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2017. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Elementary education-Arizona public charter school

What it reported doing in 2017

Elementary education-charter school

Operating model

Revenue model
Grant-funded. 96% 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

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. A relatively small share of voting board members are independent and expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 76
  • Transparency & Controls: 90
  • Accountability: 59
  • Sustainability: 34
  • Growth: 0

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 95%; rating input score 95
  • Program expense ratio: 70.4%; rating input score 70
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd 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: 40%; rating input score 40; 9th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 6 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 86
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -34.9%; rating input score 4; 4th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.76; rating input score 74; 74th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 1.17; rating input score 5; 5th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 84; 84th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -13.9% per year; rating input score 0; 6th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -6.4% per year; rating input score 0; 9th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -4% per year; rating input score 0; 15th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 95% of revenue deployed · 70.4% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 2 of 5 board members independent · 6 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $560K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 6 people listed
  • Consistency: 25 of 25 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 2 filing years from 2016 to 2017
  • 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.

Grant-readiness screening is separate from the live rating, not a measure of program quality. Review the source records before making a grant decision.

  • Moderate — Accountability: Independent voting board scored 40/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 4/100.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Whistleblower policy not reported.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 5/100.
  • High — Grant Readiness: Automatic revocation: this organization had its federal tax-exempt status automatically revoked.