Northeast La Forest School

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
863497636
IRS 990 coverage
2022–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-N 2021
Location
Los Angeles, CA, USA
Phone
2076537914
Rating
77
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Educational Services and Schools - Other

Reported finances

Revenue
$884,394
Expenses
$854,955
Assets
$118,494
Liabilities
$70,903

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

Leadership & pay

6 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Rebecca Hackett-Levy (Executive Director)
  • Gia Gambaro Blount (President)
  • Mayumi Masaoka (Vice-President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Rebecca Hackett-Levy (Executive Director): $80,568 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Northeast LA Forest School's mission is to create accessible, 100% outdoor, nature inspired, place-based preschool programing for all children in Los Angeles.

What it reported doing in 2024

Delivered an equitable urban park nature-preschool program for all that consistently bring families together in the name of nature, stewardship; ensured that our 100% outdoor preschool in Los Angeles continues to be locally accessible, financially feasible, and supportive of all families; and ensured that all programs utilizing public land follow the 6 tenants of the Forest Kindergarten pedagog.

Operating model

Revenue model
Other-operating. 98% of the money available for current operations came from other operating 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. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 77
  • Transparency & Controls: 90
  • Accountability: 65
  • Sustainability: 30
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 85.5%; rating input score 86
  • Program expense ratio: 88.4%; rating input score 88
  • Fundraising efficiency: $0.4 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 2; 2nd percentile among comparable filings

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: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 75%; rating input score 75; 16th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 4 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • 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: 3.3%; rating input score 46; 46th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.14; rating input score 7; 7th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.6; rating input score 13; 13th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 9.4%; rating input score 39; 39th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 13.5% per year; rating input score 100; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 12.6% per year; rating input score 100; 73rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 22.2% per year; rating input score 100; 84th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 85.5% of revenue deployed · 88.4% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 3 of 4 board members independent · 4 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $756K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $81K · 6 people listed
  • Consistency: 28 of 28 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 3 filing years from 2022 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • 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 2/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 7/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 46/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 13/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 39/100.