Meher Schools
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 383678484
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2014–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Lafayette, CA, USA
- Phone
- 9259385004
- Rating
- 89
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Elementary, Secondary Education, K - 12
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $4,724,138
- Expenses
- $4,546,795
- Assets
- $2,409,984
- Liabilities
- $644,747
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
9 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- LIZ E PALLEY (President)
People named in this filing
- LIZ E PALLEY (President)
- MARY BROOKS (Treasurer)
- JOHN OSBORNE (Secretary)
Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Education: Preschool, Elementary (K-5), Daycare
What it reported doing in 2024
Serving 320 Children in Preschool, Elementary school (k-5) and Daycare
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
STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and expenses are high relative to revenue.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 86
- Transparency & Controls: 100
- Accountability: 88
- Sustainability: 43
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 94.8%; rating input score 95
- Program expense ratio: 99%; 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: 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: 5 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 71
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Missing
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 3.8%; rating input score 47; 47th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.53; rating input score 19; 19th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.27; rating input score 37; 37th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 91; 91st percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 5.5% per year; rating input score 100; 42nd percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 4.2% per year; rating input score 100; 36th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 6.1% per year; rating input score 100; 40th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 94.8% of revenue deployed · 99% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 9 of 9 board members independent · 5 of 7 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $4.5M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 9 people listed
- Consistency: 18 of 18 current checks pass
- Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 8 filing years from 2014 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- 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.
Grant-readiness screening is separate from the live rating, not a measure of program quality. Review the source records before making a grant decision.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 47/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 19/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 37/100.
- Review — Grant Readiness: California registration: this organization could not be resolved against the register, so the check is unfinished.