Long Island Whole Child Academy

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
822350489
IRS 990 coverage
2017–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Melville, NY, USA
Phone
3476683676
Rating
66
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Elementary, Secondary Education, K - 12

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$2,651,788
Expenses
$2,404,900
Assets
$1,844,849
Liabilities
$81,224

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

Leadership & pay

8 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Ellen Richer (President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Ellen Richer (President): $186,154 total reported compensation
  • Laurie Nordby (School Principal): $114,774 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

We are committed to unlocking the potential of twice exceptional and special needs students by offering a compassionate, clinically integrated education that nurtures resilience, confidence, and achievement, and to sharing this life-changing model beyond Long Island, so more children and families can find hope and possiblity where they once felt left behind.

What it reported doing in 2024

At the heart of our program lies a bold departure from convention-a sanctuary where learning is not standardized but personalized, where students are not labeled by their challenges, but elevated by their strengths. We provide a cutting edge, non-traditional learning environment based on highly individualized instruction strong teacher- student relationships, error-free instruction and collaboration. Integrated clinical supports form the educational scaffold to strengthen social-emotional skills and accomodate sensory processing and executive functioning challenges. Students with dyslexia, autism sprectrum disorder (ASD) and ADHD thrive within our structured yet empathic environment where they discover and demonstrate creative academic and social strengths that were once masked by their diagnosed challenges. We honor students strengths and support their challenges so they can rise to reclaim their confidence, competence, and joy.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 100% 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. Few specific pay-setting methods are documented in the filing; unanswered boxes are not proof of absence and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 68
  • Transparency & Controls: 60
  • Accountability: 69
  • Sustainability: 48
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 73%; rating input score 73
  • Program expense ratio: 80.5%; rating input score 81
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

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: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Limited
  • 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 25
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: Limited
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Fail
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 9.3%; rating input score 61; 61st percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.77; rating input score 28; 28th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.04; rating input score 72; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 12.5%; rating input score 23; 23rd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 22.6% per year; rating input score 100; 88th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 25.5% per year; rating input score 100; 92nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 35.8% per year; rating input score 100; 95th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 73% of revenue deployed · 80.5% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 6 of 6 board members independent · 2 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $1.9M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $186K · 8 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 1 contractor listed · $135K reported
  • Consistency: 25 of 25 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes executive pay
  • Filing history: 8 filing years from 2017 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 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.
  • Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • High — Transparency & Controls: Pay-setting controls scored 0/100.
  • High — Accountability: Governance controls: 6 of 8 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 28/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 23/100.