Roxbury Roots Montessori Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
841964356
IRS 990 coverage
2020–2023
Forms available
Form 990 2023, Form 990-EZ 2019
Location
Roxbury, MA, USA
Phone
8573029557
Rating
86
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Specialized Education Institutions

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$448,548
Expenses
$484,283
Assets
$470,090
Liabilities
$551,683

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2023. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

7 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Renee Jolley (President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Renee Jolley (President): $70,150 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2023. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Roxbury Roots Montessori, Inc. seeks to offer an affordable, child-centered, authentic, high-quality, African-centered Montessori program in Roxbury, a historically underserved community.

What it reported doing in 2023

The organization officially opened as a fully licensed Montessori School program on November 1st. of 2021. The school currently serves 24 students.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 66% 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. Expenses are high relative to revenue and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 89
  • Transparency & Controls: 90
  • Accountability: 87
  • Sustainability: 28
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 92%; rating input score 92
  • Program expense ratio: 85.2%; rating input score 85
  • Fundraising efficiency: $143.16 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 89; 89th 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: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 85.7%; rating input score 86; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 7 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 88
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -8%; rating input score 27; 27th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.97; rating input score 39; 39th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 1.17; rating input score 4; 4th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 14.5%; rating input score 25; 25th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 56.2% per year; rating input score 100; 96th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 43.2% per year; rating input score 100; 96th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 30.4% per year; rating input score 100; 91st percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 92% of revenue deployed · 85.2% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 6 of 7 board members independent · 7 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $413K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $70K · 7 people listed
  • Consistency: 27 of 27 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 4 filing years from 2020 to 2023
  • 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.

  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 27/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 39/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 4/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 25/100.