Excellence Community Schools
Legal name: Public Prep Charter School Academies
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 810650329
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2009–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Bronx, NY, USA
- Phone
- 2123466000
- Rating
- 79
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Charter Schools
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $43,216,135
- Expenses
- $53,681,147
- Assets
- $232,098,286
- Liabilities
- $216,996,304
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
14 people listed
Highest reported compensation
- STEVE PAUL (BP ES PRINCIPAL): $203,617 total reported compensation
- NOELANI GABRIEL-HOLT (GPBX - II PRINCIPAL): $184,000 total reported compensation
- JANA KATZ (DIRECTOR OF STUDENT SUPPORTS): $145,599 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Excellence Community Schools prepares young people in New York City and Stamford to compete for admission to and succeed in top public, private and parochial high schools by cultivating their intellectual, artistic, social, emotional, and ethical development.
What it reported doing in 2024
Expenditures towards implementation and operation of public charter schools in New York. Expenses cover: salaries and benefits for instructional and administrative employees, classroom and office supplies, recruitment of students and staff, extensive professional development, books, furniture, contracted educational services, information technologies, equipment rental and depreciation, insurance, legal expenses, consultants, local travel and miscellaneous expenses related to the successful operation of the schools.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Earned-program. 73% 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. Few specific pay-setting methods are documented in the filing; unanswered boxes are not proof of absence and expenses are high relative to revenue.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 85
- Transparency & Controls: 69
- Accountability: 88
- Sustainability: 36
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
- Program expense ratio: 89.1%; rating input score 89
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 0 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 0
- Compensation committee: Missing
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
- Written employment contract: Missing
- Compensation survey or study: Missing
- Board or committee approval: Missing
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: Limited
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 80%; rating input score 80; 16th 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: -24.2%; rating input score 4; 4th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 4.32; rating input score 82; 82nd percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.93; rating input score 8; 8th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 2%; rating input score 77; 77th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 9.8% per year; rating input score 100; 69th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 12% per year; rating input score 100; 80th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 25% per year; rating input score 100; 94th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 7 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 2 operating locations identified
- Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 89.1% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 4 of 5 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $47.8M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $204K · 14 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $10.4M reported
- Consistency: 33 of 33 current checks pass
- Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
- Filing history: 15 filing years from 2009 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 7 filed money-flow records
- 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 — Transparency & Controls: Pay-setting controls scored 0/100.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 4/100.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 8/100.