Great Schools Initiative
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 920287286
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2023–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Walled Lake, MI, USA
- Phone
- 2489560033
- Rating
- 77
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Parent/Teacher Group
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $477,650
- Expenses
- $532,965
- Assets
- $38,130
- Liabilities
- $63,536
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
3 people listed
Highest reported compensation
- MONICA YATOOMA (SECRETARY): $26,220 total reported compensation
- NATHAN PAWL (CHAIRMAN): $24,000 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 corporation is organized and operated exclusively for charitable purposes in accordance with section 501(c)(3) of the internal revenue code of 1986 (or a corresponding provision of any future united states internal revenue law, referred to below as the "code"). More specifically, the corporation enables parents and other citizens to seek the well-being of their children through collaboration and communication with schools across Michigan, and to promote the flourishing of students and their families through academic freedom, choice, and excellence.
What it reported doing in 2024
Transform public schools through high impact community engagement projects designed to produce orthodox education.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 97% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The filing allocates 89% 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. A relatively small share of voting board members are independent and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 96
- Transparency & Controls: 93
- Accountability: 24
- Sustainability: 15
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
- Program expense ratio: 97.9%; rating input score 98
- Fundraising efficiency: $43.65 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 74; 74th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: Limited
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 80th percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Limited
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 33.3%; rating input score 33; 15th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 1 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 12
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
- Whistleblower policy: Fail
- Document-retention policy: Fail
- CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Other executive compensation review process: Fail
- Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Missing
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -11.6%; rating input score 21; 21st percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.07; rating input score 5; 5th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 1.67; rating input score 3; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 9.4%; rating input score 29; 29th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 120.3% per year; rating input score 100; 99th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 99.1% per year; rating input score 100; 99th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 24.2% per year; rating input score 100; 88th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 97.9% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 1 of 3 board members independent · 1 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $522K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $26K · 3 people listed
- Consistency: 28 of 28 current checks pass
- Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes grants
- Filing history: 2 filing years from 2023 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 3 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 2 filed related-organization links
- 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 — Accountability: Independent voting board scored 33/100.
- High — Accountability: Governance controls: 6 of 7 not reported.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 21/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 5/100.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 3/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 29/100.