Franklin Road Academy
Legal name: Franklin Road Academy Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 621138075
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2009–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Nashville, TN, US
- Phone
- (615) 832-8845
- Rating
- 80
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Primary, Elementary Schools
- Affiliation
- Christianity
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $41,989,734
- Expenses
- $33,804,259
- Assets
- $103,862,125
- Liabilities
- $25,605,994
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
31 people listed
Highest reported compensation
- SEAN CASEY (HEAD OF SCHOOL): $732,153 total reported compensation
- LAURA TURNER (ASSISTANT HOS FOR FINANCE AND OPS.): $287,063 total reported compensation
- RYAN HARRIS (ASSISTANT HOS FOR EXTERNAL AFFAIRS): $239,478 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Franklin Road Academy is a private, Christian, college-preparatory school serving students from early childhood through grade 12 in Nashville, Tennessee. The school's mission is to provide a challenging academic program within a nurturing Christian community that develops the whole child—intellectually, spiritually, physically, and socially—preparing students for college and a life of purpose and service.
What it reported doing in 2024
Instructional & student activities - education for grades pre k-12 for approximately 1,000 students, instruction for athletics, band, day care and day camp, and auxiliary activities (cafeteria, concessions for athletic events, annual, bookstore and special student activities).
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Earned-program. 80% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The filing allocates 92% 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
STRONG - 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 some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 72
- Transparency & Controls: 83
- Accountability: 91
- Sustainability: 71
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 71.3%; rating input score 71
- Program expense ratio: 89.9%; rating input score 90
- Fundraising efficiency: $6.35 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 26; 26th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
- Compensation committee: Pass
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
- Written employment contract: Missing
- Compensation survey or study: Pass
- Board or committee approval: Pass
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 66th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 7 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 78
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: Pass
- Other executive compensation review process: Fail
- Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 19.5%; rating input score 81; 81st percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 3.07; rating input score 75; 75th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.25; rating input score 53; 53rd percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 6.4%; rating input score 40; 40th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 8.9% per year; rating input score 100; 66th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 7.3% per year; rating input score 100; 61st percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 7.9% per year; rating input score 100; 55th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 12 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
- Where the money goes: 71.3% of revenue deployed · 89.9% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 22 of 22 board members independent · 7 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $30.4M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $732K · 31 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $23.3M reported
- Consistency: 40 of 40 current checks pass
- Schedules: 11 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
- Filing history: 16 filing years from 2009 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 9 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.
- High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 26/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 9 not reported.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 40/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 53/100.