Praise Academy

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
813602868
IRS 990 coverage
2017–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-N 2016
Location
Shreveport, LA, USA
Phone
3187348210
Rating
74
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Elementary, Secondary Education, K - 12
Affiliation
Christianity

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$462,712
Expenses
$481,666
Assets
$790,178
Liabilities
$15,048

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

Leadership & pay

7 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Nano Farabaugh (President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Mary Grams (Treasurer, Board Member, Head of School, & Teacher): $42,000 total reported compensation
  • David Zimmel (Board member and part time teacher): $3,300 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 provide an elementary school education that fosters each child's natural ability to become a productive, employable and active member of family and community through a Christ-centered foundational approach.

What it reported doing in 2024

Praise Academy at Lakeside provided a Christ-centered elementary education to 21 students in grades PK-6 during the 2024-2025 school year. The school serves a low-income, predominantly African American community. Instruction included core academic subjects (English Language Arts, Math, Science, and Social Studies), as well as Bible education, Physical Education, and enrichment programs such as cooking classes for upper elementary girls, building classes for upper elementary boys, and art and music appreciation for younger students. With a maximum 8:1 student-teacher ratio, the program provided individualized instruction tailored to each student's learning needs. During the reporting period, 100% of students successfully advanced to the next grade level. Students in grades 2-7 demonstrated an average improvement of more than one grade level in math during the first semester. All kindergarten students progressed from emergent readers to beginning readers. Additionally, a few of the students who entered the program performing below grade level advanced by at least one academic year. The program also emphasized literacy development through a daily Reading Workshop, with students in grades 3 and above averaging more than two hours per week of uninterrupted independent reading time. These outcomes reflect the program's effectiveness in strengthening foundational academic skills and supporting students' growth as productive, engaged members of their families and communities.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 92% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 99% 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. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 78
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 62
  • Sustainability: 39
  • Growth: 20

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 85.3%; rating input score 85
  • Program expense ratio: 81.2%; rating input score 81
  • Fundraising efficiency: $7.47 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 32; 32nd percentile among comparable filings

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: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 71.4%; rating input score 71; 19th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 4 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -4.1%; rating input score 31; 31st percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.64; rating input score 54; 54th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.02; rating input score 40; 40th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 9.4%; rating input score 29; 29th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -0% per year; rating input score 0; 30th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -3.3% per year; rating input score 0; 13th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 17.7% per year; rating input score 100; 82nd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 85.3% of revenue deployed · 81.2% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 5 of 7 board members independent · 4 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $391K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $42K · 7 people listed
  • Consistency: 29 of 29 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 8 filing years from 2017 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
  • 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: 3 of 7 not reported.
  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 32/100.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 31/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 54/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 29/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 40/100.