Hillcrest Christian School Dba Heritage Christian School
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 954562939
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2012–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Jul 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Granada Hills, CA, USA
- Phone
- 8183687071
- Rating
- 81
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Elementary, Secondary Education, K - 12
- Affiliation
- Christianity
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $17,116,267
- Expenses
- $17,288,483
- Assets
- $26,330,413
- Liabilities
- $17,866,996
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
14 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- DAVID KENDRICK (PRESIDENT & TRUSTEE)
- DR ESTHER Y CHOI (CEO)
Highest reported compensation
- DR ESTHER Y CHOI (CEO): $116,865 total reported compensation
- PAUL TAIT (HEAD COACH): $105,312 total reported compensation
- JEREMY HOFF (CFO/HEAD OF SCHOOL): $74,532 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 school operates a school and day care facility for preschool and grades k-12. The school follows the educational philosophy of providing education that develops and encourages the intellectual and spiritual growth of the child.
What it reported doing in 2024
The school operates a school and day care facility for preschool and grades k-12. The school provides a complete educational experience under California education rules.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Earned-program. 94% 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.
The verdict
STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 82
- Transparency & Controls: 92
- Accountability: 66
- Sustainability: 39
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 91.6%; rating input score 92
- Program expense ratio: 90.6%; rating input score 91
- Fundraising efficiency: $1.73 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 5; 5th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: Limited
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: Limited
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 81.8%; rating input score 82; 16th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 4 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 44
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Fail
- Document-retention policy: Fail
- CEO compensation review process: Fail
- Other executive compensation review process: Fail
- Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -1%; rating input score 27; 27th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.52; rating input score 52; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.68; rating input score 18; 18th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 2%; rating input score 77; 77th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 4.3% per year; rating input score 100; 36th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 3.9% per year; rating input score 100; 34th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 0.5% per year; rating input score 100; 12th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 91.6% of revenue deployed · 90.6% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 9 of 11 board members independent · 4 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $15.7M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $117K · 14 people listed
- Highest-paid contractors: 2 contractors listed · $317K reported
- Consistency: 30 of 30 current checks pass
- Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 13 filing years from 2012 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 4 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 — Accountability: Governance controls: 5 of 9 not reported.
- High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 5/100.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 27/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 52/100.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 18/100.