Hillcrest Educational Centers Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
042848510
IRS 990 coverage
2009–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Pittsfield, MA, USA
Phone
4134997924
Rating
88
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Specialized Education Institutions

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$51,981,628
Expenses
$48,999,210
Assets
$43,926,654
Liabilities
$21,377,465

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

Leadership & pay

21 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • SHAUN V CUSSON (PRESIDENT/CEO)
  • MICHELE MORIN (VICE PRESIDENT OF HUMAN RESOURCES)
  • GERARD BURKE (FORMER PRESIDENT/PROJECT COORDINATOR)

Highest reported compensation

  • SHAUN V CUSSON (PRESIDENT/CEO): $404,234 total reported compensation
  • JEFFREY DELISLE (PSYCHAITRIST): $308,850 total reported compensation
  • CHRISTOPHER SMITH (CHIEF OPEARTING OFFICER): $265,303 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 organization offers educational and residential services to special needs children. The residential programs operate 24 hours per day, 7 days per week and 365 days per year and provide a variety of educational and behavioral services. The organization also offers a small day program primarily for local special needs children.

What it reported doing in 2024

Hillcrest center residential treatment and education program (highpoint) - this program is a trauma informed care residential treatment setting for students with a variety of high-risk behaviors and mental health diagnosis. The program provides specialized treatment for high-risk behaviors including, physical aggression, self-injury and suicidal ideation, substance use and fire setting, among many others. The program is designed to provide programming that is individualized to meet the needs of each student. The program provides an on-site year round educational program as well as a structured residential and milieu environment. Students are also provided with vocational and independent living skills. Our medical services include routine medical care delivered by nurses on-site as well as psychiatric services and medication management. The program provides an intensely structured, therapeutic and nurturing environment with high staff-to-student ratios. This allows the students to learn new skills including coping skills, emotional regulation skills, mindfulness skills and interpersonal relationship skills to help them become more successful as they prepare for transition to a lower level of care or community setting.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 97% 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. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 83
  • Transparency & Controls: 94
  • Accountability: 96
  • Sustainability: 47
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 87.6%; rating input score 88
  • Program expense ratio: 90.2%; rating input score 90
  • Fundraising efficiency: $7.68 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 34; 34th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 68th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 6 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 100
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • Independent consultant: Pass
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
    • Written employment contract: Pass
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • 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: 92.9%; rating input score 93; 42nd 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: 5.7%; rating input score 60; 60th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.9; rating input score 36; 36th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.49; rating input score 37; 37th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 3.6%; rating input score 30; 30th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 5.9% per year; rating input score 100; 48th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 4.8% per year; rating input score 100; 40th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 5.8% per year; rating input score 100; 42nd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 87.6% of revenue deployed · 90.2% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 13 of 14 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $44.2M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $404K · 21 people listed · 6 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 34 of 34 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 9 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 16 filing years from 2009 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 8 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 3 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 — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 34/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 36/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 30/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 37/100.