Great Oaks Foundation Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
275281234
IRS 990 coverage
2017–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-PF 2016
Location
New York, NY, USA
Phone
2122335152
Rating
83
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$18,396,250
Expenses
$13,970,683
Assets
$31,224,378
Liabilities
$25,820,993

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

Leadership & pay

18 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • MICHAEL DUFFY (PRESIDENT)
  • VANESSA CEAS (VICE PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • MICHAEL DUFFY (PRESIDENT): $280,654 total reported compensation
  • JEAN LOMBARDI (CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER): $179,688 total reported compensation
  • VANESSA CEAS (VICE PRESIDENT): $175,855 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 mission of the great oaks foundation is to provide students with access to a quality education through high-dosage tutoring. We envision an america where every child has the support of a tutor to enable them to realize their full human potential.

What it reported doing in 2024

Great oaks foundation ("go") recruits, trains, and supports a corps of young adults who are placed in partner schools where they intensively tutor students as a part of a year of service through the federal americorps program. Go calls its tutors "fellows" to encompass the several roles they play to instruct, mentor, and develop the students with whom they are matched. During the 2024-2025 school year, go placed over 283 tutors at schools in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut, serving over 3,400 students. Go provides housing to the tutors placed in its partner schools. Go offers communal housing - including furniture and utilities - in the neighborhoods where tutors are serving.go serves as a management organization for a small network of charter schools. In 2024-2025, go provided comprehensive back office services to these schools, including finance, hr, operations, and facilities support.

Operating model

Revenue model
Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
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

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Liabilities are high compared with assets and reported officer compensation is a large share of total spending, which may reflect staffing concentration.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 79
  • Transparency & Controls: 76
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 63
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 70.7%; rating input score 71
  • Program expense ratio: 93.2%; rating input score 93
  • Fundraising efficiency: $63.4 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 79; 79th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 93.3%; rating input score 93; 14th 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: Pass
    • 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; 66th 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: 24.1%; rating input score 85; 85th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.23; rating input score 65; 65th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.83; rating input score 13; 13th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 10.9%; rating input score 17; 17th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 7.6% per year; rating input score 100; 59th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 10.1% per year; rating input score 100; 74th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 44.8% per year; rating input score 100; 98th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 70.7% of revenue deployed · 93.2% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 9 of 9 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $13M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $281K · 18 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 4 contractors listed · $1.4M reported
  • Consistency: 33 of 33 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 8 filing years from 2017 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 21 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.
  • Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 13/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 17/100.