Midland School Corporation
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 951684072
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2013–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Los Olivos, CA, USA
- Phone
- 8056885114
- Rating
- 79
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Secondary, High School
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $7,651,980
- Expenses
- $7,953,311
- Assets
- $40,948,562
- Liabilities
- $7,806,150
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
22 people listed
Highest reported compensation
- CHRISTOPHER BARNES (HEAD OF SCHOOL (FORMER)): $177,173 total reported compensation
- CIERRA RICKMAN (DIRECTOR OF ADVANCEMENT): $133,268 total reported compensation
- HANNAH NELSON (HEAD OF SCHOOL): $113,797 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Midland school provides a distinctive co-educational boarding school experience to a diverse student body in grades 9-12. Through study and work, midland teaches the value of a lifetime of learning, self-reliance, simplicity, responsibility to (see schedule o) community and a love for the outdoors.
What it reported doing in 2024
Midland school, located on a 2,860-acre ranch at the edge of the los padres national forest in santa barbara county, has been the leader of place-based education since 1932. Everything we do-from the courses we choose to teach to how we maintain our campus to the way we feed ourselves-originates from an intentional curriculum that focuses not only on college preparatory classes, but also on leadership, community, and stewardship. Our scale empowers students with authentic leadership opportunities, provides highly personalized learning, and inspires the pursuit of intellectual passions. At midland over half of our students receivegenerous financial aid to attend, and the depth of our boarding experience facilitates both top-tier college admissions and future success.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Earned-program. 86% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
- Distribution model
- Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 73% for direct work, and 27% for grants.
The verdict
SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 75
- Transparency & Controls: 79
- Accountability: 91
- Sustainability: 45
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 86.6%; rating input score 87
- Program expense ratio: 76.7%; rating input score 77
- Fundraising efficiency: $2.57 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 7; 7th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 2 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 33
- Compensation committee: Missing
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
- Written employment contract: Pass
- Compensation survey or study: Missing
- Board or committee approval: Pass
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
- 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: 7 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 78
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Fail
- CEO compensation review process: Pass
- Other executive compensation review process: Fail
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -3.9%; rating input score 22; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 5.15; rating input score 84; 84th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.19; rating input score 45; 45th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 6.7%; rating input score 43; 43rd percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 4.9% per year; rating input score 100; 39th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 3.1% per year; rating input score 100; 27th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 7.4% per year; rating input score 100; 47th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 86.6% of revenue deployed · 76.7% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 18 of 18 board members independent · 7 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $6.1M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $177K · 22 people listed · 2 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 1 contractor listed · $1.9M reported
- Consistency: 35 of 35 current checks pass
- Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
- Filing history: 12 filing years from 2013 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 4 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 — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 7/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 9 not reported.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 22/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 43/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 45/100.