Opportunity Scholars
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 843571746
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2020–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025, Form 990-N 2019
- Location
- Winchester, VA, USA
- Phone
- 5409311084
- Rating
- 77
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Youth Development Programs
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $853,966
- Expenses
- $671,133
- Assets
- $1,540,433
- Liabilities
- $311,032
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
19 people listed
Highest reported compensation
- RACHEL SCHAEFER (FORMER DIRECTOR): $53,636 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Opportunity scholar's mission is to support education and training pathways for students from low income and ethnically underrepresented communities. Opportunity scholars serves as the connection between students and their families, k-12 schools, higher education providers and local businesses. Through culturally appropriate coaching, academic support and risk-free financing, opportunity scholars helps students achieve the academic and technical qualifications for great jobs in the priority workforce shortage areas within the communities we serve. By helping students get high paying jobs while targeting priority workforce development needs, both the students and their communities achieve transformational improvement in their economic status and a reduction in income inequality.
What it reported doing in 2025
Educational servicesthe organization provides guidance, tutoring and support of academic studies, exposes students to various career options, and assists students in securing funds in the form of grants and loans for education related expenses
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 94% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- 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 most voting board members are independent. Few specific pay-setting methods are documented in the filing; unanswered boxes are not proof of absence and some filed totals do not add up.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 80
- Transparency & Controls: 61
- Accountability: 94
- Sustainability: 63
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 72.2%; rating input score 72
- Program expense ratio: 90.7%; rating input score 91
- Fundraising efficiency: $121.03 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 87; 87th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 92.9%; rating input score 93; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 0 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 0
- Compensation committee: Missing
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
- Written employment contract: Missing
- Compensation survey or study: Missing
- Board or committee approval: Missing
- 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; 64th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 6 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 86
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: Limited
- 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: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 21.4%; rating input score 74; 74th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.3; rating input score 68; 68th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.2; rating input score 25; 25th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 8%; rating input score 43; 43rd percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 31.5% per year; rating input score 100; 89th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 19.7% per year; rating input score 100; 82nd percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 27.7% per year; rating input score 100; 87th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 72.2% of revenue deployed · 90.7% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 17 of 17 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $609K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $54K · 19 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Consistency: 23 of 24 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
- Filing history: 5 filing years from 2020 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
- Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
- 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 — Transparency & Controls: Pay-setting controls scored 0/100.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 25/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 43/100.