Hope Community Public Charter School

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
331101817
IRS 990 coverage
2009–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Washington, DC, USA
Phone
2028327370
Rating
74
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Charter Schools

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$7,954,106
Expenses
$11,715,741
Assets
$3,763,954
Liabilities
$3,511,133

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

Leadership & pay

8 people listed

Highest reported compensation

  • CLIFFORD OWENS (SCHOOL PRINCIPAL): $203,852 total reported compensation
  • MARCUS JOHNSON (TEACHER): $115,758 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Hope community provides scholars with experiences to enhance their education. These experiences incorporate science, technology, engineering, the arts, and math (steam) into projects that connects our school from pk 3- 8th grade. Along with our eureka math and into reading academic core curriculum, we also support our scholars collaboratively with conflict resolution practices and support individuals with personal strategies to support their social emotional health through our sel curriculum, second steps. For scholars that need additional academic support, hope community employees multiple math and reading interventionists that utilize high quality supplemental curriculum which directly compliments our core curriculum. At hope community we celebrate diversity. We are proud to serve scholars who are learning english through our ell programming and receive direct support from our ell teachers and bilingual parent liaison.

What it reported doing in 2024

The charter school provides students with an integrated educational approach that places a heavy emphasis on the arts, music, and literature. In addition to the core subjects that are traditionally covered, the school works to nurture the character of each student through a staff that teaches and models excellence and the establishment of character-forming rituals and traditions. The students are taught the importance of community by working alongside parents/guardians and community members in pursuit of our mission. The formation of a strong community begins with the way we structure the school into smaller communities. In addition to pre-kindergarten for ages three and four, the school has a primary academy (pk-3), intermediate academy (3-5), and prep academy (6-8). These smaller communities enable teachers to build strong relationships with students and work closely with fellow staff members. The school also offers tutoring to assist students that require additional support. Hope community believes that parents have the primary responsibility for teaching their children and it is the school's role to work alongside parents and support them in this task. Hope community asks parents to sign a covenant agreement with the school accepting these responsibilities and committing to work with us to fulfill our mission. Hope has also formed a parent community partnership team to give parents an active role in the daily decisions of the school.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 83% 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

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Expenses are high relative to revenue and program spending has declined or grown slowly.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 76
  • Transparency & Controls: 74
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 13
  • Growth: 20

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 96.4%; rating input score 96
  • Program expense ratio: 67.8%; rating input score 68
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 2 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 33
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Pass
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • 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: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd 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: -47.3%; rating input score 2; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.32; rating input score 10; 10th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.93; rating input score 6; 6th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 2.7%; rating input score 71; 71st percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -4.9% per year; rating input score 0; 5th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -3% per year; rating input score 0; 5th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 10% per year; rating input score 100; 58th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 96.4% of revenue deployed · 67.8% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 6 of 6 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $7.9M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $204K · 8 people listed · 2 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $3.1M reported
  • Consistency: 26 of 26 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 15 filing years from 2009 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
  • 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 — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 2/100.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 10/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 6/100.