Ithaca Montessori School
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 160957380
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2010–2025
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025
- Location
- Ithaca, NY, US
- Phone
- (607) 266.0788
- Rating
- 78
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Kindergarten, Preschool, Nursery School, Early Admissions
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $1,615,788
- Expenses
- $1,583,333
- Assets
- $1,683,393
- Liabilities
- $874,521
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
12 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- SAMANTHA ELEBIARY (PRESIDENT)
- SHAWNNA SIMMONS (VICE-PRESIDENT)
Highest reported compensation
- PAM WEATHERBY (HEAD OF SCHOOL): $66,022 total reported compensation
- WALAA MAHAREM-HORAN (OPERATIONS DIRECTOR (FORMER)): $40,809 total reported compensation
- ANNA OLSON (STAFF REP TO BOARD): $40,099 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
To provide a beautiful, engaging, and dynamic place for children to grow into educated, critical-thinking, peacemakers and caretakers of the earth.
What it reported doing in 2025
To provide private pre-school & kindergarten education.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Earned-program. 98% 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. Program spending has declined or grown slowly and expenses are high relative to revenue.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 68
- Transparency & Controls: 90
- Accountability: 94
- Sustainability: 36
- Growth: 60
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 75.7%; rating input score 76
- Program expense ratio: 78.2%; rating input score 78
- 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: Limited
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 88.9%; rating input score 89; 25th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 8 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 100
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
- 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: 2%; rating input score 37; 37th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.06; rating input score 45; 45th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.52; rating input score 11; 11th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 10%; rating input score 37; 37th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: -0.4% per year; rating input score 0; 14th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 3.4% per year; rating input score 100; 27th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 2.4% per year; rating input score 100; 24th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 4 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
- Where the money goes: 75.7% of revenue deployed · 78.2% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 8 of 9 board members independent · 8 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $1.2M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $66K · 12 people listed
- Consistency: 27 of 27 current checks pass
- Schedules: 4 filed schedules
- Filing history: 13 filing years from 2010 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 4 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 — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 37/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 45/100.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 11/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 37/100.