Georgia Leadership Institute for School Improvement Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
455209297
IRS 990 coverage
2012–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Duluth, GA, USA
Phone
7704649299
Rating
80
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Management & Technical Assistance

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$4,185,053
Expenses
$3,826,286
Assets
$4,854,767
Liabilities
$768,409

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

Leadership & pay

22 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Leslie Hazle Bussey (CEO/Executive Director)

Highest reported compensation

  • Leslie Hazle Bussey (CEO/Executive Director): $235,059 total reported compensation
  • Aaryn Schmuhl (VP Program Development & Innov): $168,525 total reported compensation
  • Meca Mohammed (VP Operations & Talent): $161,117 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

GLISI'S MISSION IS TO UPLIFT SCHOOL LEADERS, TRANSFORM MINDSETS AND ACTIONS, CREATE VIBRANT CULTURES OF INNOVATION, AND BUILD EXCELLENT AND EQUITABLE SCHOOLS. In FY25, we served 1,808 leaders across 122 districts and organizations in Georgia and beyond.

What it reported doing in 2024

BASE CAMP AND LEADERSHIP SUMMIT: GLISI's Base Camp and Leadership Summit (BCLS) is designed to grow teams of school and district leaders. The goal is to equip teams with the skills to address performance problems and improve school culture and student outcomes. In FY25, GLISI served 316 leaders from 17 districts and organizations, delivering approximately 12,640 training hours to attendees. BCLS aims to increase participant knowledge in leading systemic change. Pre- and post-assessments showed a significant gain in participants' understanding, including improved skills in using multiple data sources to address a problem of practice, monitoring implementation of solutions, and addressing team dysfunctions. A second goal is to increase psychological safety within teams. Post-training, 99% of participants reported a strong ability to create spaces where team members can voice opinions and challenge others. A final objective is to increase motivation for behavior and practice changes. Qualitative data indicates that participants felt better equipped to drive change within their teams and schools. Our long-term goal is for BCLS attendance to correlate with healthier school cultures and improved student outcomes, particularly in districts using BCLS as part of multi-year improvement strategies. In 2024-2025, districts that participated in BCLS in at least three of the past five years had a higher 4-Year Cohort Graduation Rate (92.9) compared to the state average (87.2), outperforming the state across all student subgroups.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 60% 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.
  • 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 program spending has declined or grown slowly.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 70
  • Transparency & Controls: 89
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 48
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 73%; rating input score 73
  • Program expense ratio: 79%; rating input score 79
  • Fundraising efficiency: $8.15 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 31; 31st percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 5 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 83
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • Independent consultant: Pass
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Pass
    • 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: 8.6%; rating input score 60; 60th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.27; rating input score 45; 45th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.16; rating input score 49; 49th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 25.7%; rating input score 8; 8th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -0.4% per year; rating input score 0; 12th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 0.2% per year; rating input score 100; 12th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 5% per year; rating input score 100; 35th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 73% of revenue deployed · 79% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 16 of 16 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $3M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $235K · 22 people listed · 5 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 33 of 33 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 13 filing years from 2012 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 6 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
  • 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 31/100.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 45/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 8/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 49/100.