Odyssey 2020 Academy Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
760577257
IRS 990 coverage
2019–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Galveston, TX, USA
Phone
4097509289
Rating
84
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Elementary, Secondary Education, K - 12

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$23,735,459
Expenses
$24,784,647
Assets
$45,625,652
Liabilities
$45,717,051

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

Leadership & pay

11 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Doug Matthews (President)
  • Cissy Matthews (Vice President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Jennifer Goodman (Superintendent): $213,804 total reported compensation
  • Matthew Sherman (Business & Operations Officer): $132,973 total reported compensation
  • Holly Bailey (Campus Principal): $116,337 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Odyssey Academy is a public charter school commissioned by the Texas Education Agency. Odyssey educates children in Galveston and Harris counties, aged 3 years old through high school, with an intentional focus on math, science, and technology.

What it reported doing in 2024

Odyssey 2020 Academy, Inc. ("Odyssey Academy") is a free, open enrollment public charter school, providing a stellar public education with a private school feel -- smaller classes, strategic emphasis on STEM and leadership, and more. Most importantly, the learning environment feels like a family with a focus on relationships, high expectations, and a passion for learning. Odyssey now has over 1,500 students at three locations conveniently located in the South Houston/Galveston area. Odyssey takes great pride in developing, supervising, and leading its instructors so they can provide an exceptional education for all Odyssey students.

Operating model

Revenue model
Grant-funded. 96% 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 - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Expenses are high relative to revenue and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 87
  • Transparency & Controls: 79
  • Accountability: 95
  • Sustainability: 36
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 93.9%; rating input score 94
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 66th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 7 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 88
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • 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: -4.4%; rating input score 18; 18th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.84; rating input score 59; 59th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 1; rating input score 6; 6th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 1.9%; rating input score 78; 78th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 15.8% per year; rating input score 100; 85th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 7.3% per year; rating input score 100; 61st percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 16.7% per year; rating input score 100; 84th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 93.9% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 8 of 8 board members independent · 7 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $23.3M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $214K · 11 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 4 contractors listed · $878K reported
  • Consistency: 30 of 30 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 6 filing years from 2019 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 3 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.

Grant-readiness screening is separate from the live rating, not a measure of program quality. Review the source records before making a grant decision.

  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 18/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Whistleblower policy not reported.
  • Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 59/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 6/100.
  • High — Grant Readiness: Federal audit findings: this organization reported findings in its latest federal Single Audit.