Hilltop Country Day School Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
221837874
IRS 990 coverage
2009–2021
Forms available
Form 990 2021
Location
Sparta, NJ, USA
Phone
9737295485
Rating
79
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$2,173,683
Expenses
$1,696,467
Assets
$1,890,336
Liabilities
$2,073,710

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2021. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

6 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • ANDREW FRASER (PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • LAURA MCGEE (HEAD OF SCHOOL): $129,090 total reported compensation
  • KRISTEN E CROUCHELLI (TRUSTEE): $110,000 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2021. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Hilltop country day school is committed to providing a family-oriented, nurturing, creative, highly educational environment in which children: discover the excitement of learning, develop good study habits, grow in self-esteem and self-confidence, develop sensitivity and respect for the rights and abilities of others, and learn to accept responsibility and meet personal challenges.

What it reported doing in 2021

Hilltop country day school, founded in 1967, is a 50 year old independent, coeducational, preparatory school in sparta, New Jersey serving primary (2 years) through grade 8 students. It also hosts international students for shared learning and world experiences. During the year ended june 30, 2021, there were approximately 102 students enrolled in the school.hilltop emphasizes educational excellence, character development, extracurricular involvement, and integrated technology. Hilltop is laying the groundwork for our students to learn in a 21st century environment, taking advantage of initiatives such as design labs, maker bot 3d printers, coding, robotics and project-based learning. Hilltop is committed to educating the whole child. Our motto is each student, every day. Through the core values of kindness, respect, responsibility and compassion, we prepare students to be lifelong learners. Hilltop expects to develop well-rounded global citizens who value the learning process, treat others with honesty and respect, practice compassion, honor diversity, celebrate individual potential, and reject prejudice and bullying. Students, faculty, and parents are encouraged to live by a set of core values and to act as models for action and behavior. We help our students develop not only the academic skills they will need in the future, but a worldview they will use to continually seek understanding and thrive in any situation.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 89% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 85% 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 - The filed numbers largely add up and a large share of available resources goes toward mission work. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 65
  • Transparency & Controls: 94
  • Accountability: 90
  • Sustainability: 49
  • Growth: 80

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 63%; rating input score 63
  • Program expense ratio: 80.7%; rating input score 81
  • Fundraising efficiency: $7.61 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 23; 23rd 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: 100%; rating input score 100; 71st percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 6 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 75
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • 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: 22%; rating input score 73; 73rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.11; rating input score 40; 40th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 1.1; rating input score 4; 4th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 13.3%; rating input score 18; 18th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 0.5% per year; rating input score 100; 26th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 0.7% per year; rating input score 100; 19th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -5.3% per year; rating input score 0; 5th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 63% of revenue deployed · 80.7% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 5 of 5 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $1.4M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $129K · 6 people listed
  • Consistency: 28 of 28 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
  • Filing history: 13 filing years from 2009 to 2021
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 1 filed related-organization link
  • 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.

Grant-readiness screening is separate from the live rating, not a measure of program quality. Review the source records before making a grant decision.

  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 23/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 40/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 4/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 18/100.
  • High — Grant Readiness: Automatic revocation: this organization had its federal tax-exempt status automatically revoked.