Rocketship Education Wisconsin Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 900951861
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2013–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- San Jose, CA, USA
- Phone
- 8778060920
- Rating
- 73
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Elementary, Secondary Education, K - 12
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $10,777,880
- Expenses
- $11,031,297
- Assets
- $7,924,836
- Liabilities
- $12,584,918
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
20 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- PRESTON SMITH (CEO)
- KADEEM LEON GILL (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, MILWAUKEE)
Highest reported compensation
- PRESTON SMITH (CEO): $377,475 total reported compensation
- BENJAMIN CARSON (CFO): $288,443 total reported compensation
- KADEEM LEON GILL (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, MILWAUKEE): $186,498 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Founded in 2006, rocketship education is a 501 (c)(3) non-profit corporation whose mission is to eliminate the achievement gap in underserved communities across the country. The core of rocketship's instructional model is a teacher-led, technology supported approach to personalized learning that matches each student with the right content at the right time utilizing the right method of instruction. By deeply engaging parents in their student's learning and the school community, rocketship develops parents who become lifelong advocates for their children and their community. Working alongside parents, community organizations, districts and other charter schools, rocketship is catalizing a movement to eliminate the achievement gap in our lifetime.
What it reported doing in 2024
Rocketship education Wisconsin operates rocketship education public schools. These schools serve approximately 700 students in the milwaukee region.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Grant-funded. 99% of the money available for current operations came from government grants.
- 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
SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and most voting board members are independent. Few specific pay-setting methods are documented in the filing; unanswered boxes are not proof of absence and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 77
- Transparency & Controls: 60
- Accountability: 91
- Sustainability: 22
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 87.1%; rating input score 87
- Program expense ratio: 85.1%; rating input score 85
- 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: Limited
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 66th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 7 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 78
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: Fail
- Other executive compensation review process: Fail
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -2.4%; rating input score 22; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.72; rating input score 25; 25th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 1.59; rating input score 2; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 7.8%; rating input score 31; 31st percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 9.1% per year; rating input score 100; 67th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 9.8% per year; rating input score 100; 73rd percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 24.9% per year; rating input score 100; 94th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 87.1% of revenue deployed · 85.1% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 12 of 12 board members independent · 7 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $9.4M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $377K · 20 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Consistency: 31 of 31 current checks pass
- Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes executive pay
- Filing history: 12 filing years from 2013 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 5 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 3 filed related-organization links
- 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.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 9 not reported.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 22/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 25/100.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 2/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 31/100.