Hillcrest Academy
Legal name: Iowa Mennonite School
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 420810248
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2009–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Kalona, IA, United States
- Phone
- 319-656-2073
- Rating
- 79
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Secondary, High School
- Affiliation
- Christianity
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $2,921,801
- Expenses
- $2,900,586
- Assets
- $3,070,514
- Liabilities
- $8,774
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
10 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- ALLISON GOERTZ (PRESIDENT)
People named in this filing
- JOEL BEACHY (BOARD MEMBER)
- HEATHER BENDER (BOARD MEMBER)
- NICK DETWEILER-STODDARD (BOARD MEMBER)
Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Hillcrest Academy, in partnership with the family and the church, offers students an academically excellent, Christ-centered education rooted in an Anabaptist perspective. Within a caring community, Hillcrest Academy prepares students for lives of Christian discipleship, peacemaking and service. OUR VALUES. Our highly-qualified faculty and staff realize that success may look different for each student. Within that framework, we expect our students to expand their critical thinking skills and do their best in the classroom. Our goal is always to prepare students for life’s next steps, be that continued education, employment, or voluntary service. HOLISTIC LEARNING We desire that our students pursue life-long learning and be given the tools to engage with the world around them. Our collaborative approach includes learning and reflecting through experiences, developing a spirit of...
What it reported doing in 2024
At hillcrest academy we not only offer excellence in academics and outscore national averages, but we also have an abundance of extracurricular activities for all of your interests. With a 5:1 student-teacher ratio, teachers and staff passionate about their work, and a friendly student body ready to welcome you as one of us, at hillcrest academy you won't get lost in the crowd.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Other-operating. 64% of the money available for current operations came from other operating 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. A relatively small share of voting board members are independent and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 88
- Transparency & Controls: 92
- Accountability: 47
- Sustainability: 50
- Growth: 80
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 99.1%; rating input score 99
- Program expense ratio: 99.8%; rating input score 100
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: Limited
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: Limited
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 50%; rating input score 50; 8th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 3 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 43
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Fail
- Document-retention policy: Fail
- CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Missing
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 0.7%; rating input score 36; 36th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.06; rating input score 39; 39th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 90; 90th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 91; 91st percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 2.2% per year; rating input score 100; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 0.5% per year; rating input score 100; 13th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: -3.6% per year; rating input score 0; 5th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 1 operating location identified
- Where the money goes: 99.1% of revenue deployed · 99.8% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 5 of 10 board members independent · 3 of 7 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $2.9M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 10 people listed
- Consistency: 27 of 27 current checks pass
- Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 15 filing years from 2009 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: Resolved incoming and outgoing counterparties from filed money flows.
- Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
- 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.
- Review — Accountability: Independent voting board scored 50/100.
- Moderate — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 6 not reported.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 36/100.
- High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 39/100.