NewSchools Venture Fund
Legal name: New Schools Fund
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 943281780
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2009–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Oakland, CA, US
- Phone
- 4156156860
- Rating
- 84
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Standard
- Sector
- Single Organization Support
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $41,832,970
- Expenses
- $36,108,555
- Assets
- $70,939,482
- Liabilities
- $1,715,111
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
21 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- FRANCES MESSANO (CEO)
Highest reported compensation
- FRANCES MESSANO (CEO): $534,315 total reported compensation
- CHRISTOPHER LOZIER (CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER/TR): $357,852 total reported compensation
- HEATHER MCMANUS (CHIEF PEOPLE OFFICER): $355,002 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
NewSchools is a venture philanthropy that builds a better education system by connecting people, ideas, and resources to support innovative schools and leaders.
What it reported doing in 2024
Venture funding and support: newschools raises philanthropic dollars and invests them in entrepreneurs and teams of educators. We find, fund, and support organizations that are reimagining education. In addition to providing financial assistance, newschools also provides additional resources including convenings, access to research, participation in a cohort, and management assistance. Our investment areas are innovative public schools, teaching reimagined, learning differences, learning solutions and diverse leaders/racial equity.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 95% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- Distribution model
- Grant intermediary. The nonprofit sent 62% of its reported program spending out as grants.
- Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.
The verdict
STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Program spending has declined or grown slowly and reported officer compensation is a large share of total spending, which may reflect staffing concentration.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 79
- Transparency & Controls: 92
- Accountability: 95
- Sustainability: 66
- Growth: 60
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 75.4%; rating input score 75
- Program expense ratio: 86.5%; rating input score 87
- Fundraising efficiency: $51.47 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 76; 76th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 4 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 67
- Compensation committee: Pass
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
- Written employment contract: Missing
- Compensation survey or study: Pass
- Board or committee approval: Pass
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: 99.7%; rating input score 100; 36th percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 90.9%; rating input score 91; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 9 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 100
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: Pass
- Other executive compensation review process: Pass
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 13.7%; rating input score 74; 74th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.96; rating input score 61; 61st percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.02; rating input score 89; 89th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 9.9%; rating input score 20; 20th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: -0.4% per year; rating input score 0; 9th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 3.7% per year; rating input score 100; 31st percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 3.6% per year; rating input score 100; 26th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 3 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
- Where the money goes: 75.4% of revenue deployed · 86.5% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 10 of 11 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $31.2M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $534K · 21 people listed · 4 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $3.4M reported
- Consistency: 37 of 37 current checks pass
- Schedules: 9 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
- Filing history: 13 filing years from 2009 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 113 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 103 filed related-organization links
- 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 — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 20/100.