Pace School

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
251186708
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Pittsburgh, PA, USA
Phone
4122441900
Rating
86
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Specialized Education Institutions

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$9,067,283
Expenses
$9,395,072
Assets
$7,602,898
Liabilities
$1,883,979

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

Leadership & pay

20 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • AMIRA MCLEMORE WOLFSON (CEO (EFF APRIL 2024))
  • MATTHEW HELFRICH (PRESIDENT)
  • MICHAEL NICOLELLA (VICE PRESIDENT)
  • KAREN SHEPHERD (CEO (THRU JUNE 2024))

Highest reported compensation

  • KAREN SHEPHERD (CEO (THRU JUNE 2024)): $245,333 total reported compensation
  • JAMES MELE (CFO (THRU MAY 2024)): $232,053 total reported compensation
  • MELISSA DIRLING (CONTROLLER): $142,414 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Pace school is a placement option for school districts in allegheny and surrounding counties and serves children, kindergarten through age twenty one, with emotional challenges or autism.

What it reported doing in 2024

Pace encompasses a variety of services under its umbrella. The largest service is the approved private school program. The aps is a licensed private special education school which has been "approved" by the pa department of education to serve students with emotional disturbance and autism. Students referred to pace's approved private school have complex emotional and behavioral disorders that complicate their educational success and impair their development and functioning. For this reason, pace also provides a partial hospitalization program. The php is an intensive service delivery model that provides mental and behavioral health services fully integrated into the special education program. Students in the school based partial hospitalization program have chronic psychiatric needs and this service model allows them to receive interventions tailored to their changing needs.in all its programs, pace provides educational and therapeutic services that enable any child to thrive. We teach children to break through the social and emotional barriers to school success.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 91% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 89% 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.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

The verdict

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Revenue has declined or grown slowly and expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 92
  • Transparency & Controls: 87
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 28
  • Growth: 40

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 97.4%; rating input score 97
  • Program expense ratio: 93.9%; rating input score 94
  • Fundraising efficiency: $20.56 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 60; 60th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 4 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 67
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
    • Written employment contract: Pass
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
  • 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: 9 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 100
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • 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: -3.6%; rating input score 23; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.81; rating input score 30; 30th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.25; rating input score 39; 39th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 8.7%; rating input score 34; 34th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 1.3% per year; rating input score 100; 18th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -0.6% per year; rating input score 0; 10th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -1.7% per year; rating input score 0; 8th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 97.4% of revenue deployed · 93.9% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 15 of 15 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $8.8M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $245K · 20 people listed · 4 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $731K reported
  • Consistency: 32 of 32 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 9 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 14 filing years from 2010 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 6 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 2 filed related-organization links
  • 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 — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 23/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 30/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 34/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 39/100.