Opus Montessori School Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
821003631
IRS 990 coverage
2021–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Barrington Hills, IL, USA
Phone
6305686787
Rating
62
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Child Day Care

Reported finances

Revenue
$854,424
Expenses
$833,118
Assets
$562,271
Liabilities
$365,207

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

2 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Veronica Henderson-Garner (President)
  • Geoffrey Garner (Vice President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Veronica Henderson-Garner (President): $107,983 total reported compensation
  • Geoffrey Garner (Vice President): $58,145 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Our mission is to provide an authentic Montessori preschool experience for children between the ages of 2-5 yrs old. Our approach to education is child-centered, focusing on developing every child's mind, body, and spirit to the fullest extent of that child's capabilities.

What it reported doing in 2025

Our mission is to provide an authentic Montessori preschool experience for children between the ages of 2-5 years old. Our approach to education is child-centered, focusing on developing every child's mind, body and spirit to the fullest extent of that child's capabilities.

Operating model

Revenue model
Other-operating. 95% 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 program spending has grown recently. The filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad and the filing does not identify recipients for some grant dollars.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 77
  • Transparency & Controls: 50
  • Accountability: 49
  • Sustainability: 30
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 81.8%; rating input score 82
  • Program expense ratio: 83.9%; rating input score 84
  • Fundraising efficiency: $9.09 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 32; 32nd 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: Scored; rating input score 0
  • Grant itemization coverage: Scored; rating input score 0
  • Major donor itemization: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 40%; rating input score 40; 14th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 5 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 62
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Fail
    • 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: 2.5%; rating input score 38; 38th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.67; rating input score 32; 32nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.65; rating input score 9; 9th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 19.9%; rating input score 16; 16th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 17.7% per year; rating input score 100; 76th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 17% per year; rating input score 100; 78th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 40.3% per year; rating input score 100; 93rd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 81.8% of revenue deployed · 83.9% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 2 of 5 board members independent · 5 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $699K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $108K · 2 people listed
  • Consistency: 41 of 41 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes foreign activity
  • Filing history: 5 filing years from 2021 to 2025
  • 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 — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight scored 0/100.
  • High — Transparency & Controls: Grant itemization coverage scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Accountability: Independent voting board scored 40/100.
  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 32/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 7 not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 38/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 32/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 9/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 16/100.