River Farm Cooperative

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
471168560
IRS 990 coverage
2021–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2020
Location
Alexandria, VA, USA
Phone
5712751561
Rating
84
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate

Reported finances

Revenue
$471,229
Expenses
$504,063
Assets
$203,780
Liabilities
$0

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

12 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Scott Beggs (Board President 2024-2025)
  • Leslie Walston (Board Vice President 2024-2025)
  • Meg Schiffman (Board President 2025-2026)
  • Caitlin MassonBreen (Board Vice President 2025-2026)

Highest reported compensation

  • Stacy Clark (Head of School): $69,456 total reported compensation
  • Ashley Mack (Assistant Head of School): $62,066 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

River Farm Forest School is a K-8 school. The mission of the school is to educate students in a nurturing nature-based and child-centered environment that allows for individualized learning based on best practices of progressive education.

What it reported doing in 2025

The school provided full-time educational services for approximately 50 students across 9 grades Kindergarten through 8th in four mixed-aged classrooms.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 97% 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.

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: 81
  • Transparency & Controls: 100
  • Accountability: 74
  • Sustainability: 27
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 92.9%; rating input score 93
  • Program expense ratio: 86.8%; rating input score 87
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

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: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 3 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 38
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • 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: -7%; rating input score 22; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.4; rating input score 21; 21st percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 77; 77th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 26.1%; rating input score 13; 13th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 9.9% per year; rating input score 100; 67th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 16.3% per year; rating input score 100; 82nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 11.3% per year; rating input score 100; 67th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 92.9% of revenue deployed · 86.8% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 5 of 5 board members independent · 3 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $438K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $69K · 12 people listed
  • Consistency: 36 of 36 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 5 filing years from 2021 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 3 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.

  • Moderate — Accountability: Governance controls: 4 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 22/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 21/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 13/100.