International School of Denver

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
840761183
IRS 990 coverage
2009–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Denver, CO, USA
Phone
3033403647
Rating
80
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Adult, Continuing Education

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$25,695,979
Expenses
$22,359,585
Assets
$56,993,678
Liabilities
$42,534,332

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

Leadership & pay

16 people listed

Highest reported compensation

  • ROBERT CARIGNAN (HEAD OF SCHOOL): $264,366 total reported compensation
  • ALEXIS WOOLL (SR. DIRECTOR OF ADVANCEMEN): $191,687 total reported compensation
  • SETH WINNERMAN (SR. DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS): $175,522 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Our inclusive, globally-minded community develops highly motivated and academically successful bilingual learners. Isd students are inter-culturally adept and make positive contributions in a complex world.

What it reported doing in 2024

The school, a Colorado not-for-profit corporation incorporated april 25, 1978, is an independent, coeducational day school striving to fulfill the highest educational standards of the united states, france, spain, china, and other countries in order to prepare its students to thrive in a diverse and competitive global society. The school offers full immersion education in french, spanish, and mandarin for children ages three through fifth grade. The school has an international baccalaureate primary-years program and middle-years program, expanding educational offerings through eighth grade. Starting in august 2025, the school started a high school program with an inaugural class beginning in 9th grade with plans to expand services for an inclusive 9th through 12th grade education. The school enrolled approximately 690 students in the 2024-2025 school year in the denver, Colorado metropolitan area that come from a variety of cultural and linguistic backgrounds and many different countries. The school also offers a wide variety of after school programs focusing on sports, dance, language, music and the arts. Additionally, a variety of camps are offered during the school breaks and over the summer. The french program is accredited by the aefe (agency for french education abroad), which also provides financial aid to certain students. Additionally, the school has an established relationship with hanban, the international cultural and teaching arm of the chinese ministry of education, and has been named a confucius classroom, language and literacy laboratory site. In 2012, the spanish program was named one of the top four elementary spanish language immersion schools in north america by the spanish ministry of education, culture and sport.

Operating model

Revenue model
Other-operating. 76% of the money available for current operations came from other operating revenue.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 88% 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.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

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 some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 70
  • Transparency & Controls: 83
  • Accountability: 94
  • Sustainability: 64
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 67.9%; rating input score 68
  • Program expense ratio: 77.7%; rating input score 78
  • Fundraising efficiency: $16.76 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 52; 52nd percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • 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; 66th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 6 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 86
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Limited
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 13%; rating input score 73; 73rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.55; rating input score 70; 70th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.75; rating input score 16; 16th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 4.1%; rating input score 59; 59th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 8.7% per year; rating input score 100; 65th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 9.1% per year; rating input score 100; 70th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 9.6% per year; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 67.9% of revenue deployed · 77.7% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 11 of 11 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $17.4M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $264K · 16 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $1.9M reported
  • Consistency: 36 of 36 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 9 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 14 filing years from 2009 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 5 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.
  • Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 52/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Whistleblower policy not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 16/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 59/100.