Lightkeeper Academy Nfp

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
932764999
IRS 990-EZ coverage
2023–2024
Forms available
Form 990-EZ 2024
Location
Manhattan, IL, USA
Rating
89
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Christianity
Affiliation
Christianity

Reported finances

Revenue
$187,427
Expenses
$131,336
Assets
$146,305
Liabilities
$2,798

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

Leadership & pay

3 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Jillian Kowalski (President and Director)

People named in this filing

  • Jillian Kowalski (President and Director)
  • Tom Bulow (Treasurer)
  • Cheryl Kysiak (Secretary and Accountant)

Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.

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

Overview

Mission

Lightkeeper Academy strives to provide a transformative educational environment that embraces project-based learning nurtures the inner leader and is rooted in Christian faith. Our approach believes in personalized education that caters to the unique needs of every student. Our micro school model ensures that students receive individual attention and support from experienced educators. We foster a collaborative and inclusive learning environment that empowers students to explore their interests and passions.

What it reported doing in 2024

We provided elementary level education to 38 students during the 2024-2025 school year serving grades Kindergarten through 7th grade.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 75% 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

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Reported officer compensation is a large share of total spending, which may reflect staffing concentration and liabilities are high compared with assets.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 81
  • Transparency & Controls: 100
  • Sustainability: 65
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 70.1%; rating input score 70
  • Program expense ratio: 100%; rating input score 100

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 29.9%; rating input score 83; 83rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.11; rating input score 63; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.02; rating input score 38; 38th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 4.5%; rating input score 23; 23rd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 38.8% per year; rating input score 100; 88th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 6.3% per year; rating input score 100; 53rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 50.4% per year; rating input score 100; 94th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 70.1% of revenue deployed · 100% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: Filed governance answers
  • Accomplishments: 1 filed program accomplishment · $131K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 3 people listed
  • Consistency: 7 of 7 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 2 filing years from 2023 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • 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.

  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 23/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 38/100.