Iredell County Crosby Scholars Community Partnership

What it reported doing in 2024

This is a college access program through which public school students begin to prepare academically, financially, and personally for successful college admission as early as middle school. We are partnered with Goodwill of Northwest North Carolina and modeled after the successful Crosby Scholars Community Partnership in Forsyth County, which graduates 100% of its seniors and sends 98% of its graduates on to access post-secondary education. Every public sixth through tenth grade student in Iredell County is eligible to apply to our program. Once admitted, students must fulfill a few requirements each year to remain active in the Crosby Scholars program. Middle school students must attend a Crosby academy, complete community service hours, and follow school policies (i.e., no out-of-school suspensions). High school students have additional activities such as college visits or college fairs, advising meetings, and continued community service which are required to progress through the program. Seniors who complete the program and graduate as a Crosby Scholar are eligible to apply for scholarships and grants through our program. Student enrollment in Fall of 2024 totaled 2,167 middle and high school students. Of those, 1,650 students received credit for attending our academy workshops. 1,491 of our students completed their community service requirement and together have provided 10,128 volunteer work hours. In our tenth year, our student pool included 293 Scholars in our seventh senior class. Iredell Crosby Scholars provides college access training to parents, guardians, and volunteers so that each senior has a 1:1 advisor to meet with throughout the school year for assistance with the college process. In addition to the individual meetings, senior academy workshops were held to help with essay writing, college applications, standardized test taking, understanding financial aid, and general preparation for the freshman year of college. In 2024, the program awarded $25,550 in the form of scholarships to a total of 31 students. Need-based grants totaling $54,158 were awarded to 39 students. These grants were available to new graduates and continuing college students who graduated from our program and still demonstrated need and who maintained at least a 2.0 college GPA.

Financial Efficiency

• Mission deployment rate: 69.4%; rating input score 69
• Program expense ratio: 60.3%; rating input score 60
• Fundraising efficiency: $9.67 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 37; 37th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

• Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
• Pay-setting controls: 0 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 0
  • Compensation committee: Missing
  • Independent consultant: Missing
  • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
  • Written employment contract: Missing
  • Compensation survey or study: Missing
  • Board or committee approval: Missing
• Foreign activity oversight: Limited
• Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 76th percentile among comparable filings
• Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
• Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

• Independent voting board: 93.8%; rating input score 94; 25th percentile among comparable filings
• Governance controls: 8 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 89
  • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
  • Whistleblower policy: Pass
  • Document-retention policy: Pass
  • CEO compensation review process: Pass
  • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
  • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
  • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
  • Audit committee oversight: Pass
  • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

• Operating margin: -15.2%; rating input score 12; 12th percentile among comparable filings
• Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.17; rating input score 8; 8th percentile among comparable filings
• Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.69; rating input score 11; 11th percentile among comparable filings
• Officer compensation ratio: 33.9%; rating input score 5; 5th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

• Program expense growth: 14.5% per year; rating input score 100; 74th percentile among comparable filings
• Revenue growth: 10.7% per year; rating input score 100; 68th percentile among comparable filings
• Asset growth: 11.2% per year; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings