The Greater Dayton School
Legal name: Greater Schools
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 863303205
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2020–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Dayton, OH, US
- Phone
- (937) 800-1234
- Rating
- 70
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Elementary, Secondary Education, K - 12
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $1,659,083
- Expenses
- $12,987,701
- Assets
- $68,347,313
- Liabilities
- $44,630,700
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
5 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- LAWRENCE CONNOR (DIRECTOR AND PRESIDENT)
Highest reported compensation
- RYAN ERNST (DIRECTOR, VP, SECRETARY): $200,000 total reported compensation
- ADAM STICH (FOUNDING PRINCIPAL): $185,622 total reported compensation
- SARAH SEALOCK (DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS): $134,711 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 Greater Dayton School is Ohio’s first private non-religious school exclusively for under-resourced students. Our model is predicated on personalized instruction, whole-child learning, wraparound services, long-term outcomes, low student-teacher ratios, multi-age classrooms and family involvement.
What it reported doing in 2024
Greater schools educates students in prek through eighth grade, and is Ohio's first private non-religious school exclusively for under-resourced students. The school uses a national model conceived and realized in the heart of dayton. A model that shows what underserved kids are capable of accomplishing not just as students, but throughout their lives when they have access to all the resources they need to succeed.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 66% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- 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 - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Few specific pay-setting methods are documented in the filing; unanswered boxes are not proof of absence and a relatively small share of voting board members are independent.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 89
- Transparency & Controls: 64
- Accountability: 45
- Sustainability: 33
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
- Program expense ratio: 98.7%; rating input score 99
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 0 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 0
- Compensation committee: Missing
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
- Written employment contract: Missing
- Compensation survey or study: Missing
- Board or committee approval: Missing
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: Limited
- Major donor itemization: Limited
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 33.3%; rating input score 33; 10th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 5 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 62
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- 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: Missing
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -682.8%; rating input score 0; 0th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 5.26; rating input score 85; 85th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.65; rating input score 12; 12th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 2.5%; rating input score 58; 58th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 63.6% per year; rating input score 100; 97th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 6% per year; rating input score 100; 49th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 55% per year; rating input score 100; 97th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 1 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
- Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 98.7% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 1 of 3 board members independent · 5 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $12.8M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $200K · 5 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Consistency: 28 of 28 current checks pass
- Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes executive pay
- Filing history: 5 filing years from 2020 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 3 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 5 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.
- High — Transparency & Controls: Pay-setting controls scored 0/100.
- Moderate — Accountability: Independent voting board scored 33/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 7 not reported.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 0/100.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 12/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 58/100.