Liberty Academy Foundation Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
833169015
IRS 990 coverage
2024–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-N 2022
Location
Miami, FL, USA
Rating
71
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Human Service Organizations

Reported finances

Revenue
$1,065,055
Expenses
$801,026
Assets
$684,994
Liabilities
$205,424

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

Leadership & pay

4 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • SARAH BRAZIER (PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • MAURICE BRAZIER (CHAIRMAN): $50,080 total reported compensation
  • SARAH BRAZIER (PRESIDENT): $25,400 total reported compensation
  • DEBORAH DAVIS (VICE PRESIDE): $980 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Liberty academy foundation provides high quality instruction to elementary school childrenkindergarten to fifth grade. We have approximately 120 children enrolled from one of the mostunderserved communities in miami, liberty city. We employ 14 full time staff that are teachers andteacher's aides from the community as well as administrative staff. Liberty academy is an awardwinning program and is highly regarded in the community.

What it reported doing in 2024

Liberty academy is one of the highest performing elementary school programs serving students and families in and around the historically underserved community of liberty city section of miami-dade county. As a direct result of the academic outcomes of our students, the demand for our educational services has been significant. To address the high demand for our educational services, in 2022, liberty academy began the expensive and lengthy process of constructing a new addition to our existing facility. Prior to the 2024/25 school year, we were informed that we would need to obtain a change of use to be able to accept step-up for students scholarships. Based on our approval to obtain a change in use upon completion of our addition and a statement from fire that our existing facility did not pose any safety hazards, a waiver was granted for liberty academy to provide services for the 2024/25 school year. After getting our building permit in 2024, the financial institution that agreed to finance the construction delayed moving forward until their underwriter could verify that step-up payments would be made quarterly. The delay in our financial institution's commitment to finance the deal made completion of the addition before the 2025/26 school year extremely unlikely. Despite investing over 100,000 and almost three years into the expansion, liberty academy decided to go in a different direction in december 2024. Because the cost of housing is very expensive in miami-dade county, liberty academy made the decision to renovate the property that would have been demolished to accommodate the expansion to provide significantly discounted housing for four staff members and their immediate families.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 100% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
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 - The filed numbers largely add up and a large share of available resources goes toward mission work. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 68
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 68
  • Sustainability: 57
  • Growth: NotEnoughData

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 67.7%; rating input score 68
  • Program expense ratio: 90%; rating input score 90
  • 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: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 2 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 22
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: Fail
    • 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: 24.8%; rating input score 81; 81st percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.86; rating input score 38; 38th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.3; rating input score 25; 25th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 9.5%; rating input score 38; 38th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: Limited
  • Revenue growth: Limited
  • Asset growth: Limited

Details

  • Where the money goes: 67.7% of revenue deployed · 90% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 4 of 4 board members independent · 2 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $721K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $50K · 4 people listed
  • Consistency: 25 of 25 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 3 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 — Accountability: Governance controls: 6 of 8 not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 38/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 25/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 38/100.