Redwood Classical Academy
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 871016182
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2025–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2024
- Location
- Saint Louis, MO, USA
- Phone
- 3146309434
- Rating
- 77
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Education N.E.C.
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $244,000
- Expenses
- $257,114
- Assets
- $8,582
- Liabilities
- $3,272
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
3 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Elizabeth Werkheiser (Executive Director)
Highest reported compensation
- Elizabeth Werkheiser (Executive Director): $43,736 total reported compensation
- Kim Kuntz (Director of Operations): $29,929 total reported compensation
- Melissa Trippeer (Director of Education): $24,669 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Redwood is a vibrant organization of educators in St. Louis, Missouri, and the surrounding area. We provide delightful classroom instruction in the liberal arts, using Charlotte Mason's methods. We offer instruction two days a week, providing the foundation for the academic week. In addition to the academic classes offered, we provide times of celebration and off-campus learning. We are also intentional about cultivating relationships between children, families, and parents.
What it reported doing in 2025
All other program related costs
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Other-operating. 90% of the money available for current operations came from other operating revenue.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The filing allocates 95% 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 - 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: 71
- Transparency & Controls: 94
- Accountability: 82
- Sustainability: 15
- Growth: 60
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 81.3%; rating input score 81
- Program expense ratio: 77.1%; rating input score 77
- Fundraising efficiency: $1.1 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 6; 6th 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: 100%; rating input score 100; 81st 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; 64th 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: -5.4%; rating input score 25; 25th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.03; rating input score 4; 4th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.38; rating input score 11; 11th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 38.2%; rating input score 7; 7th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: Limited
- Revenue growth: 29.1% per year; rating input score 100; 92nd percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 26.3% per year; rating input score 100; 88th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 81.3% of revenue deployed · 77.1% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 3 of 3 board members independent · 5 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $198K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $44K · 3 people listed
- Consistency: 42 of 42 current checks pass
- Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 4 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 6/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 8 not reported.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 25/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 4/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 7/100.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 11/100.