Georgetown Day School

What it reported doing in 2024

Georgetown day school honors the integrity and worth of each individual within a diverse school community. Gds is dedicated to providing a supportive educational atmosphere in which teachers challenge the intellectual, reative, and physical abilities of our students and foster strength of character and concern for others. From the earliest grades, we encourage our students to wonder, to inquire, and to be self-reliant, laying the foundation for a lifelong love of learning. Georgetown day school opened its doors in 1945 as the first integrated school in a segregated city. We were founded by seven families who sought to create a school committed to academic excellence, educational innovation, and social justice. Our founders intuited what new research now proves-diverse learning environments are academically superior and allow students to enter the world with a rich appreciation of and respect for others. Today, a gds education is one that prepares students for an uncertain future because we live our founding mission every day. While we would be hard-pressed to predict the details of life nearly two decades hence, we can with a fair degree of accuracy anticipate the skills and capacities that our children will need to have a meaningful impact in this changed world. These same skills lie at the heart of a gds education. Our curriculum ensures that our students have the opportunity to learn, practice, and ultimately, master these skills during their time at gds.we don't offer courses that focus explicitly on risk-taking or solving complex problems, and yet these and our other "a gds student will..." capacities are taught and reinforced continually. We teach these skills through a challenging physics lab or a hard-fought soccer game, when building a city out of blocks or exploring constitutional issues on capitol hill, when sitting in the hallway discussing an assignment or designing a set for our latest theater production. What is essential is that throughout our program, these skills are identified, nurtured, and assessed with intention. These skills, as we have defined them, will foster in our students both the will and capacity to change the world in ways that each generation is called to do.

Financial Efficiency

• Mission deployment rate: 66.3%; rating input score 66
• Program expense ratio: 71%; rating input score 71
• Fundraising efficiency: $2.92 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 10; 10th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

• Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 68th 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; 77th 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; 77th 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: 4.4%; rating input score 54; 54th percentile among comparable filings
• Total-asset coverage ratio: 5.04; rating input score 85; 85th percentile among comparable filings
• Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.3; rating input score 55; 55th percentile among comparable filings
• Officer compensation ratio: 4.1%; rating input score 24; 24th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

• Program expense growth: 5.2% per year; rating input score 100; 42nd percentile among comparable filings
• Revenue growth: 5% per year; rating input score 100; 43rd percentile among comparable filings
• Asset growth: 8.8% per year; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings