Providence Day School
Legal name: Providence Day School Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 560952382
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2010–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Charlotte, NC, US
- Phone
- (704) 302-4774
- Rating
- 86
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Elementary, Secondary Education, K - 12
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $72,890,636
- Expenses
- $63,592,024
- Assets
- $165,663,876
- Liabilities
- $70,736,460
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
30 people listed
Highest reported compensation
- GLYN COWLISHAW (HEAD OF SCHOOL): $768,485 total reported compensation
- JEFF APPEL (ASST. HEAD OF SCHOOL FOR I): $379,324 total reported compensation
- KRISTEN KRAL (AHS FOR FINANCE & RISK MGM): $340,873 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 inspire a passion for learning and to prepare students to lead lives of purpose and service in a diverse and changing world.
What it reported doing in 2024
Providence day school is known for its innovative approach and focus on global studies, as one of just six schools nationwide to offer a global studies diploma and a round square school; for its emphasis on social responsibility, proud to be a private school with a public purpose, including dozens of community partnerships and its unique freedom school site; for its commitment to education in science and technology, and the application of innovation to teaching; for its accomplished scholar-athletes, who win state and local championships and go on to division 1 teams and pro leagues including the nba, wnba, and mls; and for its deep focus on the arts, dominating regional and statewide honors. The school's greatest strength is its faculty, who serve as national ap readers and hold 101 master's degrees and 15 ph.ds; their accolades range from a regional emmy to a newbery honor book award to an american geographical society teacher fellowship.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Other-operating. 88% of the money available for current operations came from other operating revenue.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The filing allocates 91% 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. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and reported officer compensation is a large share of total spending, which may reflect staffing concentration.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 73
- Transparency & Controls: 95
- Accountability: 100
- Sustainability: 65
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 76.4%; rating input score 76
- Program expense ratio: 87.2%; rating input score 87
- Fundraising efficiency: $3.67 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 14; 14th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 68th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 6 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 100
- Compensation committee: Pass
- Independent consultant: Pass
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
- Written employment contract: Pass
- Compensation survey or study: Pass
- Board or committee approval: Pass
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 77th percentile among comparable filings
- 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: 9 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 100
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- 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: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 12.8%; rating input score 78; 78th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.61; rating input score 72; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.43; rating input score 42; 42nd percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 5.3%; rating input score 15; 15th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 7.3% per year; rating input score 100; 59th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 5.8% per year; rating input score 100; 50th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 7.1% per year; rating input score 100; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 7 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
- Where the money goes: 76.4% of revenue deployed · 87.2% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 18 of 18 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $55.5M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $768K · 30 people listed · 6 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 4 contractors listed · $9.9M reported
- Consistency: 38 of 38 current checks pass
- Schedules: 11 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
- Filing history: 15 filing years from 2010 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 12 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.
- High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 14/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 15/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 42/100.