Friends School Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
841087693
IRS 990 coverage
2015–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Boulder, CO, USA
Phone
3034991999
Rating
75
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Kindergarten, Preschool, Nursery School, Early Admissions

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$4,438,086
Expenses
$5,209,122
Assets
$7,185,897
Liabilities
$3,579,724

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

Leadership & pay

13 people listed

Highest reported compensation

  • HONOR TAFT (HEAD OF SCHO): $270,500 total reported compensation
  • HEIDI HALPERN (DIRECTOR OF): $153,136 total reported compensation
  • IVAN FINK JOHNSON (SCHOOL PROGR): $120,239 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Friend's school is a supportive, dynamic community committed to educating the whole child head, hand, and heart and to training exceptional teachers for tomorrow's classrooms. We provide a strong academic foundation while developing creative expression and nurturing a passion for learning. Our students gain a deep understanding of themselves and are inspired to act with compassion and integrity.

What it reported doing in 2024

Educational - friends school offers an independent, nonsectarian progressive program for children in preschool through grade eight. We are leaders in social and emotional learning with a focus on mindfulness practices at all levels. Students are challenged through experiential learning, exploration and direct instruction, low student to teacher ratios, and actively involved families. Our preschool offers a warm, loving, play-based approach, setting the foundation for school readiness. In our elementary school we emphasize an experiential and gold standard project-based curriculum, focused on developing academic skills and competencies including: problem solving, critical thinking, and social responsibility. The middle school provides the optimal learning environment where students are challenged academically through our balanced program that ensures high school readiness while inspiring students to stay engaged and make a difference in the world. We also offer after school care, enrichment programs and summer camps. Overall enrollment is approximately 140 students.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 86% 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

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 expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 74
  • Transparency & Controls: 70
  • Accountability: 95
  • Sustainability: 24
  • Growth: 80

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 84.7%; rating input score 85
  • Program expense ratio: 73.1%; rating input score 73
  • Fundraising efficiency: $5.15 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 18; 18th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 1 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 17
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • 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: 7 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 88
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -17.4%; rating input score 8; 8th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.38; rating input score 49; 49th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.5; rating input score 21; 21st percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 10.4%; rating input score 29; 29th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 5.4% per year; rating input score 100; 42nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 4.4% per year; rating input score 100; 37th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -0.7% per year; rating input score 0; 10th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 84.7% of revenue deployed · 73.1% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 9 of 9 board members independent · 7 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $3.8M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $270K · 13 people listed · 1 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 33 of 33 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 10 filing years from 2015 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.

  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 18/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 8/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Other executive compensation review process not reported.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 49/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 21/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 29/100.