Polaris Academy Foundation Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
933914565
IRS 990 coverage
2025–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-N 2024
Location
Mesa, AZ, USA
Phone
4808619541
Rating
60
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Parent/Teacher Group

Reported finances

Revenue
$1,010,800
Expenses
$9,134
Assets
$1,013,252
Liabilities
$0

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

Leadership & pay

9 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Nathan Palmer (President)
  • Darcy Palmer (Vice President)

People named in this filing

  • Nathan Palmer (President)
  • Darcy Palmer (Vice President)
  • Bradley Broyles (Treasurer)

Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.

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

Overview

Mission

Polaris Academy Foundation's mission is to empower parents, students, schools, and the community by organizing and providing academic, social, life skill, and community resources to elevate the growth, capacity, independence, and education of autistic and neurodivergent children.

What it reported doing in 2025

In 2025 the Polaris Academy Foundation supported various extracurricular student events including a business bazar, STEM innovation tools, computer lab support and equipment, Special Olympics equipment, and curriculum resources for neurodiverse learners. The Foundation also secured two additional sites to develop for sensory and neurodiverse learning through Leases with Mesa Public Schools and began remodeling on both sites in 4th quarter of 2025 continuing into 2026 with plans to open both for educational purposes in fall of 2026. In fall of 2025 the Foundation held a community Gala to raise awareness of the autism community and its unique approach to supporting autism education and learning supports.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 100% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
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 - The filed numbers largely add up and most voting board members are independent. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and some filed totals do not add up.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 31
  • Transparency & Controls: 84
  • Accountability: 88
  • Sustainability: 96
  • Growth: NotEnoughData

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 0.8%; rating input score 1
  • Program expense ratio: 89.6%; rating input score 90
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 90%; rating input score 90; 7th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • 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; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 5 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 71
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • 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: 99.1%; rating input score 100; 100th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 110.93; rating input score 99; 99th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 88; 88th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 78; 78th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: Limited
  • Revenue growth: Limited
  • Asset growth: Limited

Details

  • Where the money goes: 0.8% of revenue deployed · 89.6% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 9 of 9 board members independent · 5 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $8K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 9 people listed
  • Consistency: 13 of 14 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: Resolved incoming and outgoing counterparties from filed money flows.
  • Related organizations: 1 filed related-organization link
  • 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 — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 1/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.