North Lakes Academy
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 411941981
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2010–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Forest Lake, MN, USA
- Phone
- 6519822688
- Rating
- 81
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Primary, Elementary Schools
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $7,970,189
- Expenses
- $7,325,619
- Assets
- $3,311,682
- Liabilities
- $5,232,097
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
9 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- CECELIA DODGE (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)
Highest reported compensation
- CECELIA DODGE (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $94,722 total reported compensation
- MITCH HOULE (DIRECTOR/EDUCATOR): $52,027 total reported compensation
- MORGAN BORCK (DIRECTOR/EDUCATOR): $49,391 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
North lakes academy provides a rigorous, liberal arts curriculum in a small, personalized, developmentally appropriate learning environment and graduate students who are confident, skilled scholars and citizens.
What it reported doing in 2024
North lakes academy: we are a public charter school offering a rigorous liberal arts education to students in grades k through 12 on two campuses. During the 24-25 year, we served 455 students. We estimate around 470 students for the 25-26 year.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Grant-funded. 97% of the money available for current operations came from government grants.
- 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 - The filed numbers largely add up and a large share of available resources goes toward mission work. A relatively small share of voting board members are independent and total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 74
- Transparency & Controls: 100
- Accountability: 71
- Sustainability: 39
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 80.9%; rating input score 81
- Program expense ratio: 88%; rating input score 88
- 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: Yes; rating input score 100
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 50%; rating input score 50; 8th 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: 8.1%; rating input score 58; 58th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.45; rating input score 15; 15th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 1.58; rating input score 2; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 4%; rating input score 61; 61st percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 8.2% per year; rating input score 100; 57th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 7.6% per year; rating input score 100; 57th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 8% per year; rating input score 100; 50th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 80.9% of revenue deployed · 88% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 4 of 8 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $6.4M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $95K · 9 people listed
- Highest-paid contractors: 3 contractors listed · $402K reported
- Consistency: 33 of 33 current checks pass
- Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors and related organizations
- Filing history: 15 filing years from 2010 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 5 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 1 filed related-organization link
- 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: Independent voting board scored 50/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 15/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 58/100.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 2/100.
- High — Grant Readiness: Federal audit findings: this organization reported findings in its latest federal Single Audit.