Mountain Meadows Montessori

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
992506538
IRS 990 coverage
2024–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2023
Location
Bozeman, MT, USA
Rating
69
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Child Day Care

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$330,001
Expenses
$259,607
Assets
$105,116
Liabilities
$23,405

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

Leadership & pay

7 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Lauren Brown (President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Jenna Fallaw (Director): $45,360 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Our mission is to cultivate a supportive, high quality educational environment based on the principles of Maria Montessori, where every child's intellect and spirit of discovery are respected and celebrated, and where each child feels valued and empowered to explore, learn, and grow at their own pace. We are committed to fostering mutual respect, compassion, and collaboration preparing learners to engage thoughtfully and contribute meaningfully to the world around them.

What it reported doing in 2024

Primary Education: Mountain Meadows Montessori provided Montessori-based early childhood education to 24 children aged 3-6, focusing on high quality individualized learning, science and nature based activities, music and art exposure, and preliteracy and mathematics curriculum. Community Engagement: MMM conducted three free workshops for parents on the introduction to the Montessori philosophy, positive discipline, and supporting early literacy of young children in the home. Organized a school-based clothing drive and donated over 100 gathered clothing items to local community charitable organizations. Professional Development: Provided ongoing professional development for our teaching staff, including an early childhood development course that can be credited toward Montessori certification, and incorporated instruction on positive discipline techniques into teacher training. Facility Improvements: Upgraded classroom materials and resources to enhance the learning environment, including new Montessori materials and technology integration with child care management software. Academic Progress: Monitored and reported significant academic progress among students. These examples illustrate how the Montessori school has actively worked towards its educational goals and contributed to the community, thereby fulfilling its exempt purpose.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 89% 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. A relatively small share of voting board members are independent and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 77
  • Transparency & Controls: 90
  • Accountability: 30
  • Sustainability: 46
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 78.7%; rating input score 79
  • Program expense ratio: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 0%; rating input score 0; 7th 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: 21.3%; rating input score 75; 75th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.4; rating input score 21; 21st percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.22; rating input score 19; 19th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 17.5%; rating input score 22; 22nd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: Limited
  • Revenue growth: 180.9% per year; rating input score 100; 100th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 105.6% per year; rating input score 100; 99th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 78.7% of revenue deployed · 100% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 0 of 7 board members independent · 5 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $260K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $45K · 7 people listed
  • Consistency: 22 of 22 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules
  • 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.

Key Signals

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

  • High — Accountability: Independent voting board scored 0/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 21/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 19/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 22/100.