Onward Christian Academy
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 813055867
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2018–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Rustburg, VA, United States
- Phone
- 434-515-1495
- Rating
- 80
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Educational Services and Schools - Other
- Affiliation
- Christianity
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $1,432,117
- Expenses
- $1,236,811
- Assets
- $913,102
- Liabilities
- $1,612
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
6 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- MATTHEW ZEALAND (PRESIDENT)
Highest reported compensation
- JALIE TROWBRIDGE (BOARD MEMBER): $27,255 total reported compensation
- LAUREN ZEALAND (EXECUTIVE DI): $23,505 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Coming alongside parents in fully equipping their students academically while fostering a love of learning that will last a lifetime and a love for Christ that will last an eternity. Classroom support and instruction in the form of a structured school day in all the essential subjects Hands-on Excellent, balanced, and hands-on curriculum that provides a well-rounded approach for students. Resources for additional tutoring and academic support Well-rounded Students have opportunities to participate in athletics, public speaking, field trips, and other social and extra-curricular outlets. No more running around to many different social, academic, athletic, and extra-curricular outlets. Centralize your life by finding so much support in one community Influence Families deserve time together to instill personal values and beliefs.
What it reported doing in 2024
We are a collaborative education community that offers education, vocational and extracurricular instructional courses to k-12 grade homeschool students. We are committed to working alongside home educators in providing a christ-centered, well-rounded, excellent, and tailored education.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Earned-program. 85% 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
STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 79
- Transparency & Controls: 92
- Accountability: 63
- Sustainability: 57
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 84%; rating input score 84
- Program expense ratio: 98.5%; rating input score 98
- 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: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 1 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 12
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
- Whistleblower policy: Fail
- Document-retention policy: Fail
- CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Other executive compensation review process: Fail
- Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Missing
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 13.6%; rating input score 68; 68th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.74; rating input score 33; 33rd percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 78; 78th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 4.1%; rating input score 55; 55th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 21.6% per year; rating input score 100; 84th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 21% per year; rating input score 100; 86th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 26.4% per year; rating input score 100; 88th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 1 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
- Where the money goes: 84% of revenue deployed · 98.5% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 5 of 5 board members independent · 1 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $1.2M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $27K · 6 people listed
- Consistency: 24 of 24 current checks pass
- Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 6 filing years from 2018 to 2024
- 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: Governance controls: 6 of 7 not reported.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 33/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 55/100.