Golden Door Charter School
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 223590539
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2010–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Jersey City, NJ, USA
- Phone
- 2017954400
- Rating
- 70
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Charter Schools
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $18,710,539
- Expenses
- $12,176,825
- Assets
- $27,223,181
- Liabilities
- $179,488
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
11 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- DANIELLE DOWNS (BOARD PRESIDENT)
- TONYA KEYES (BOARD VICE PRESIDENT)
Highest reported compensation
- PAUL VELELIS (SCHOOL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATOR/BOARD SECRETARY): $190,843 total reported compensation
- TABITAH MADERA (CHIEF ACADEMIC OFFICER): $167,314 total reported compensation
- FANNY LOPEZ (ASSISTANT DIRECTOR): $155,366 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
The Golden Door Charter School was founded on the simple convictions that a firstrate education is the right of every individual, that all children can learn and that every child should be challenged to reach his or her potential.
What it reported doing in 2024
Golden door charter school was founded on the simple convictions that a first rate education is the right of every individual, that all children can learn, and that every child should be challenged to reach his or her potential. The overall goals of the school are (1) to demonstrate the benefits of academic achievement that the public school students can routinely attain when the advantages of charter school governance are coupled with ambitious new academic standards. (2) to increase the availability of choice to parents and students when selecting a learning environment and (3) to encourage the use of different innovative learning methods. The golden door charter school is proving that every child can succeed when given the right opportunities. The charter school had a student enrollment of 613 as of june 30, 2025.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Grant-funded. 100% 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 - The filed numbers largely add up and most voting board members are independent. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 50
- Transparency & Controls: 77
- Accountability: 90
- Sustainability: 77
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 47.5%; rating input score 47
- Program expense ratio: 73%; rating input score 73
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
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: Missing
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
- Written employment contract: Pass
- Compensation survey or study: Missing
- Board or committee approval: Pass
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: Limited
- Major donor itemization: Limited
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 66th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 6 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 75
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Fail
- Document-retention policy: Fail
- CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
- 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: 34.9%; rating input score 90; 90th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.24; rating input score 65; 65th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.01; rating input score 94; 94th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 7.2%; rating input score 35; 35th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 6.1% per year; rating input score 100; 50th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 8.5% per year; rating input score 100; 67th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 19.3% per year; rating input score 100; 88th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 47.5% of revenue deployed · 73% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 5 of 5 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $8.9M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $191K · 11 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 2 contractors listed · $400K reported
- Consistency: 26 of 26 current checks pass
- Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes executive pay
- Filing history: 12 filing years from 2010 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 6 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.
- Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 47/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 8 not reported.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 35/100.