Leadership Society of Arizona

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
364843872
IRS 990 coverage
2021–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2020, Form 990-N 2016
Location
Mesa, AZ, USA
Phone
4802427860
Rating
71
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Educational Services and Schools - Other

Reported finances

Revenue
$1,182,060
Expenses
$1,223,687
Assets
$544,771
Liabilities
$5,212

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

5 people listed

Highest reported compensation

  • JAKE GUNNOE (DIRECTOR): $98,396 total reported compensation
  • JACOB KASHIWAGI (CHAIRMAN): $92,002 total reported compensation
  • ALFREDO RIVERA (DIRECTOR): $87,717 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Leadership Society of Arizona LSA is dedicated to transforming education by providing accessible leadership and logic education to students of all backgrounds. Our mission is to equip young minds with the critical thinking problem-solving and interpersonal skills necessary for lifelong achievement. We are committed to ensuring that all students especially those from underserved communities have access to high-quality educational resources and mentorship opportunities that empower them to reach their full potential. Through our innovative curriculum and community-driven programs we integrate leadership education into school systems and offer scholarships financial aid and free services to remove barriers to success. By fostering inclusivity resilience and lifelong learning we strive to bridge educational gaps create equitable opportunities and inspire the next generation of leaders to make a meaningful impact on society.

What it reported doing in 2025

LeadAZ Private School: LSA provides an alternative to the traditional school system for students in grades k through 12. The school emphasizes leadership-based learning allowing students to learn academic skills alongside leadership-based skills. With a 5-to-1 instructor ratio LeadAZ provides individualized attention fostering a supportive learning environment. The curriculum is research-based integrating LSAs years of teen mentoring and education to prepare students for real-world challenges. The school also offers flexible tuition and scheduling making quality education accessible to a diverse student body. The school has an estimated 33 students of which 19 are in financial need. The school discounts their tuition and offers scholarships totaling 196,263.

Operating model

Revenue model
Other-operating. 100% 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: 89
  • Transparency & Controls: 90
  • Accountability: 10
  • Sustainability: 26
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 98.6%; rating input score 99
  • 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: 0%; rating input score 0; 6th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 2 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 25
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -3.5%; rating input score 22; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.45; rating input score 22; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.01; rating input score 60; 60th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 16.9%; rating input score 21; 21st percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 43.2% per year; rating input score 100; 93rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 29.7% per year; rating input score 100; 90th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 31.1% per year; rating input score 100; 90th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 98.6% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 0 of 5 board members independent · 2 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 5 filed program accomplishments · $1.2M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $98K · 5 people listed
  • Consistency: 42 of 42 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 5 filing years from 2021 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 7 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 1 filed related-organization link
  • 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 — Accountability: Independent voting board scored 0/100.
  • High — Accountability: Governance controls: 5 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 22/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 22/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 21/100.