Philomath Montessori School
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 931323194
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2023–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2022
- Location
- Philomath, OR, USA
- Phone
- 5419292672
- Rating
- 80
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Kindergarten, Preschool, Nursery School, Early Admissions
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $233,069
- Expenses
- $216,818
- Assets
- $221,496
- Liabilities
- $25,030
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
10 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Jessica Neebe (Executive Director)
- Shannon Zuschlag (President)
Highest reported compensation
- Jessica Neebe (Executive Director): $70,098 total reported compensation
- Shannon Zuschlag (President): $432 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
To operate a Montessori school for young children, following the principles developed by Maria Montessori to foster educational and developmental growth and to nurture a love of learning.
What it reported doing in 2024
During the 2024-25 school year, a total of 25 children between the ages of 2-1/2 and 6 attended our primary school. We welcome all children - supporting and celebrating differences of gender, race, religion, family structure, socio-economic level, age, sexual orientation, abilities and learning style. In line with the philosophies and techniques developed by Maria Montessori, a pioneer in early childhood development, we believe birth to six years of age is a period when learning is naturally driven and almost effortless. Young children learn by unconsciously taking in everything around them. The best environment for this is a classroom equipped with a rich array of activities that inspire children and sustain their attention and concentration while encouraging independence. Therefore, everything in our classroom is child-sized and composed with beauty, quality and intention. Activities in the classroom are hands-on so that the child can learn by doing, and also experience many abstract qualities and concepts in a concrete form. Because they are free to move around, the children meet and talk with one another and learn to discuss common problems. They resolve conflicts, answer questions, borrow and lend, and assist each other in many ways. Our staff includes two Montessori-trained guides who together have over 35 years teaching experience, assisted by a capable classroom aide
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Other-operating. 91% of the money available for current operations came from other operating revenue.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The filing allocates 94% 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. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and expenses are high relative to revenue.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 70
- Transparency & Controls: 93
- Accountability: 84
- Sustainability: 41
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 77.5%; rating input score 77
- Program expense ratio: 82.7%; rating input score 83
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: Limited
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 80th percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Limited
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd 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: 7%; rating input score 54; 54th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.02; rating input score 41; 41st percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.11; rating input score 25; 25th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 32.5%; rating input score 9; 9th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 10% per year; rating input score 100; 70th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 21.1% per year; rating input score 100; 88th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 6.7% per year; rating input score 100; 54th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 77.5% of revenue deployed · 82.7% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 10 of 10 board members independent · 5 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $179K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $70K · 10 people listed
- Consistency: 42 of 42 current checks pass
- Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes grants
- Filing history: 2 filing years from 2023 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 4 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.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 7 not reported.
- Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 54/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 41/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 9/100.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 25/100.