Playgroup School

Legal name: PlayGroup

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
465213440
IRS 990 coverage
2015–2024
Official website data refreshed
Sep 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
San Francisco, CA, USA
Phone
(415) 750-1523
Rating
75
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Kindergarten, Preschool, Nursery School, Early Admissions

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$2,928,825
Expenses
$2,844,422
Assets
$7,124,239
Liabilities
$6,822,432

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

Leadership & pay

10 people listed

Highest reported compensation

  • Lonna Corder (Executive Dir.): $252,836 total reported compensation
  • Ashley Sedillo (Secretary): $178,078 total reported compensation
  • Mayra Travis (Faculty Rep.): $77,281 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Playgroup is a non-profit preschool that provides a strong foundation for success in Kindergarten and beyond, using a Montessori-inspired curriculum that blends science, math, reading, writing, history, music, art, and free play with nurturing.

What it reported doing in 2024

- Opened the school year with 68 children enrolled, including 30 new incoming students (18 new families and 12 siblings).- Before Care (89 AM) enrolled 36 children and After Care (36 PM) enrolled 43 children, resulting in a 40% increase in care revenue year-over-year.- Celebrated 14 graduating students, including 6 siblings, while receiving an unprecedented number of admissions applicants for the 20252026 academic year.- Welcomed 4 new employees, managed 2 departures, and implemented an average compensation increase of 12.09% for staff entering the 20242025 academic year.- Achieved the most successful summer session to date, generating $73,000 above budget projections.- Awarded 2 Financial Aid Scholarships to support access within our community.- As of August, Playgroup held $2.2M in total assets across all accounts, representing a 7% year-over-year increase driven by successful fundraising efforts and investment growth.- Covered the ? scal year de? cit and contributed more than $225,000 to the organizations investment portfolio, underscoring the continued importance of fundraising within the Playgroup community.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 85% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program 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.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 74
  • Transparency & Controls: 84
  • Accountability: 64
  • Sustainability: 43
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 79.1%; rating input score 79
  • Program expense ratio: 83.9%; rating input score 84
  • Fundraising efficiency: $5.18 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 18; 18th 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: Pass
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Pass
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • 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: 70%; rating input score 70; 11th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 5 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 56
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • 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: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 2.9%; rating input score 44; 44th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.5; rating input score 69; 69th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.96; rating input score 6; 6th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 17.9%; rating input score 15; 15th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 5.6% per year; rating input score 100; 43rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 10.3% per year; rating input score 100; 69th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 4.3% per year; rating input score 100; 31st percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 5 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
  • Where the money goes: 79.1% of revenue deployed · 83.9% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 7 of 10 board members independent · 5 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $2.4M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $253K · 10 people listed · 4 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 32 of 32 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 10 filing years from 2015 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 3 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.
  • Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 18/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 8 not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 44/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 6/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 15/100.