Institute for Educational Leadership

What it reported doing in 2024

Center for family, school and community for more than 25 years, iel has assisted schools, communities, and other key stakeholders in building intentional partnerships that achieve better results for every young person, from early childhood to adulthood. Major initiatives of the center for family, school and community include: the coalition for community schools, in operation since 1997, is a national alliance that brings together school and community leaders to advocate for schools as centers of their communities, with purposeful results-focused partnerships at their heart. With the support of a steering committee representing education, youth development, higher education, child and family services, and local government, iel has helped to make community schools 'central to reform' according to former u.s. Secretary of education, arne duncan. More than 150 communities now have major community school's efforts and are part of a learning community of local initiatives. Through the coalition, iel is leading efforts to have federal and state policy be more responsive to the community school strategy. Place-based services for local leaders - in fy25, iel's place-based work, led by four regional directors, drove measurable impact advancing community school strategies in local communities. Operating across 34 states and u.s. Territories, the majority of services supported statewide initiatives that strengthened the capacity of education and community leaders to design and scale sustainable coalitions for community schools. Among the customized supports provided, 28% of services focused on coaching (building leadership skills and problem- solving capacity), while 27% focused on networking (connecting leaders across regions to share strategies and accelerate progress). Through this work, iel fostered alignment from the school level to regional collaboration in the northeast, southern, midwest, and western regions. Expanding state coalitions - iel has continued to grow state coalitions for community schools, providing a platform for local and state stakeholders to connect, deepen their skills, and advocate for supportive policies. The four stages of the state coalition are exploring, emerging, evolving, and expanding. In fy25, the state coalition was explored in 9 states, emerged in 14 states, evolved in 11 states, and expanded in 7 states. District leaders network on family and community engagement (fce) - the district leaders network on family and community engagement (dln) is a group of 225 individuals in district-level leadership positions primarily responsible for the oversight of our district's family and community engagement (fce) initiatives. Dln is a peer-driven knowledge network designed to engage members as both experts and learners through a national structure to support member capacity building activities. The network is unique in purpose, function and design and is grounded in the belief that through dln, members can increase their collective capacity to implement a systemic approach to family and community engagement, resulting in more consistent practice across districts, greater sustainability, and measurable impact on student outcomes and school improvement. Membership is granted exclusively to those who are tasked with oversight of their district's engagement efforts. Community schools x family engagement conference - csxfe - iel has hosted annual national conferences for over 20 years, which have continued to grow in attendance. Most recently, the coalition for community schools and family and community engagement has created a joint conference, with minneapolis, mn, being the home of the event in june 2025, with more than 3,500 attendees. Csxfe is designed to catalyze collaboration and action through community school & family engagement professionals and advocates with a renewed commitment. People from across the globe who believe all children deserve a safe place to live and opportunities to learn and thrive will c

Financial Efficiency

• Mission deployment rate: 95.7%; rating input score 96
• Program expense ratio: 75.1%; rating input score 75
• Fundraising efficiency: $3.22 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 9; 9th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

• Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
• Pay-setting controls: 4 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 67
  • Compensation committee: Pass
  • Independent consultant: Missing
  • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
  • Written employment contract: Pass
  • Compensation survey or study: Pass
  • Board or committee approval: Pass
• Foreign activity oversight: Limited
• Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 72nd 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: 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: -27.2%; rating input score 5; 5th percentile among comparable filings
• Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.73; rating input score 27; 27th percentile among comparable filings
• Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.35; rating input score 31; 31st percentile among comparable filings
• Officer compensation ratio: 24.9%; rating input score 8; 8th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

• Program expense growth: -0.9% per year; rating input score 0; 11th percentile among comparable filings
• Revenue growth: 2.4% per year; rating input score 100; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
• Asset growth: 9.7% per year; rating input score 100; 57th percentile among comparable filings