Royal Live Oaks Academy - Ridgeland

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
453046654
IRS 990 coverage
2013–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Hardeevile, SC, USA
Phone
8437842630
Rating
74
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Charter Schools

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$10,708,821
Expenses
$10,884,898
Assets
$21,275,140
Liabilities
$17,783,298

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

10 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • KAREN WICKS (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)

Highest reported compensation

  • KAREN WICKS (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $213,451 total reported compensation
  • BRIAN MORSE (EMPLOYEE): $145,951 total reported compensation
  • BRENDA HUND (EMPLOYEE): $135,134 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Royal live oaks academy provides a rigorous academic environment that fosters integrity and resilience.

What it reported doing in 2024

See schedule othe 2024 - 2025 school year was an exceptional year for our royal knights. At the elementary level royal live oaks academy was recognized for the following:- gold school of distinction for outperforming its local district and demonstrating above-average growth in core subjects.- palmetto silver award from the South Carolina department of education.- culture of excellence award for earning an excellent rating on the school climate indicator on the 2025 school report card.- 2025 math trailblazer award for ranking in the top 1% of all South Carolina elementary schools for student progress and achieving the highest elementary math growth across the entire institute portfolio. The royal live oaks academy middle school earned:- silver school of distinction for outperforming the local district and demonstrating average growth.- culture of excellence award for earning an excellent rating on the school climate indicator on the 2025 school report card.and at the high school level rloa was recognized for:- platinum school of distinction for outperforming the local district in both core subjects and college and career readiness.- culture of excellence award for earning an excellent rating on the school climate indicator on the 2025 school report card. Royal live oaks academy continues to provide a high quality, challenging, education that builds critical thinkers and problem solvers as they learn the values of becoming productive leaders within their community.

Operating model

Revenue model
Grant-funded. 96% 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 the filed numbers largely add up. Few specific pay-setting methods are documented in the filing; unanswered boxes are not proof of absence and expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 72
  • Transparency & Controls: 65
  • Accountability: 95
  • Sustainability: 37
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 81.7%; rating input score 82
  • Program expense ratio: 80.2%; rating input score 80
  • 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: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 66th 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: Fail
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -1.6%; rating input score 24; 24th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.95; rating input score 61; 61st percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.84; rating input score 12; 12th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 4.5%; rating input score 55; 55th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 7.9% per year; rating input score 100; 61st percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 5.7% per year; rating input score 100; 50th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 12.5% per year; rating input score 100; 74th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 81.7% of revenue deployed · 80.2% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 7 of 7 board members independent · 7 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $8.7M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $213K · 10 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 2 contractors listed · $523K reported
  • Consistency: 30 of 30 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 12 filing years from 2013 to 2024
  • 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 — Transparency & Controls: Pay-setting controls scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 24/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Audit committee oversight not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 12/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 55/100.