Rise Scholars Incorporated
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 844738834
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2020–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025
- Location
- San Rafael, CA, USA
- Phone
- 4153051125
- Rating
- 87
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $521,346
- Expenses
- $592,728
- Assets
- $984,175
- Liabilities
- $43,627
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
6 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- MICHELE HUFF (PRESIDENT)
People named in this filing
- MICHELE HUFF (PRESIDENT)
- JAY FERGUSON (TREASURER)
- TAMMY WILLIAMS (DIRECTOR)
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
To empower students at hamilton school to realize their full personal and academic potential by providing them with an array of targeted and thoughtful curricular and co-curricular opportunities that support the development of a growth mindset, a positive attitude, and high achievement.
What it reported doing in 2025
Despite major construction at hamilton k-8 that prevented rise from operating its traditional summer program, rise successfuly adapted by offering a three-week mini-summerhawks program. Students in grades 2-4 received intensive academic instruction with 7-9 tutors in the classroom during two-hour blocks, allowing for primarily 1:1 or 2:1 academic support. Students worked on math fact fluency, reading, sight words, and individualized ixl math skills based on diagnostic assessments. Students in grades 5-8 participated in two-hour academic blocks supported by approximately 4-5 tutors each day and demonstrated more than one year of growth in math skills during the three-week program. Rise also continued providing students with academic enrichment, mentoring, supplemental math instruction, and ongoing support as students progressed from elementary and middle school into high school and college. These programs are designed to provide hamilton students with the individualized academic support, enrichment opportunities, adult relationships, and resources needed to succeed in school and beyond.
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 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
STRONG - 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 expenses are high relative to revenue.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 96
- Transparency & Controls: 92
- Accountability: 70
- Sustainability: 37
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
- Program expense ratio: 98%; rating input score 98
- Fundraising efficiency: $40.41 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 72; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd 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: 2 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 29
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
- Whistleblower policy: Fail
- Document-retention policy: Fail
- 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: -13.7%; rating input score 10; 10th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.66; rating input score 59; 59th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.04; rating input score 45; 45th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 78; 78th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 31.7% per year; rating input score 100; 89th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 17.7% per year; rating input score 100; 79th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 25.6% per year; rating input score 100; 86th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 98% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 6 of 6 board members independent · 2 of 7 filing controls reported
- Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $581K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 6 people listed
- Consistency: 21 of 21 current checks pass
- Schedules: 3 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 5 filing years from 2020 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: Resolved incoming and outgoing counterparties from filed money flows.
- 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 — Accountability: Governance controls: 4 of 6 not reported.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 10/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 59/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 45/100.