Pacific Coast Academy

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
821707686
IRS 990 coverage
2017–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Poway, CA, USA
Phone
6192150704
Rating
77
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Charter Schools

Reported finances

Revenue
$97,375,587
Expenses
$95,066,286
Assets
$33,735,481
Liabilities
$13,232,604

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

Leadership & pay

29 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • SHARI ERLENDSON (DEPUTY EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)
  • JOHN EGNOR (DEPUTY EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF SPED)
  • ROSE AREVALO (Vice President)
  • BEN FUNG (President)

Highest reported compensation

  • SHARI ERLENDSON (DEPUTY EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $473,296 total reported compensation
  • KRYSTIN DEMOFONTE (Executive Dir.): $445,328 total reported compensation
  • JOHN EGNOR (DEPUTY EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF SPED): $300,585 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Provide a high standard of education to students through comprehensive curriculum supported by energetic, dynamic, and caring teachers.

What it reported doing in 2024

Provide a virtual curriculum model that emphasizes meeting individual students' needs for meeting the California common core state standards for their grade level.

Operating model

Revenue model
Grant-funded. 97% 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

SUPPORTED - 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: 77
  • Transparency & Controls: 70
  • Accountability: 91
  • Sustainability: 31
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 86.3%; rating input score 86
  • Program expense ratio: 88.4%; rating input score 88
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 68th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 1 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 17
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • 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; 77th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 7 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 78
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • 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: Fail
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 2.4%; rating input score 45; 45th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.35; rating input score 12; 12th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.39; rating input score 46; 46th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 5.9%; rating input score 11; 11th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 22.6% per year; rating input score 100; 94th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 21.8% per year; rating input score 100; 95th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 21.4% per year; rating input score 100; 94th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 86.3% of revenue deployed · 88.4% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 5 of 5 board members independent · 7 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $84M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $473K · 29 people listed · 1 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $2.6M reported
  • Consistency: 33 of 33 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 8 filing years from 2017 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 24 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.

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

  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 9 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 12/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 45/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 11/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 46/100.
  • Review — Grant Readiness: California registration: this organization could not be resolved against the register, so the check is unfinished.