Rye Country Day School

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
131740484
IRS 990 coverage
2009–2024
Official website data refreshed
Aug 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Rye, NY, US
Phone
(914) 967-1417
Rating
75
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Elementary, Secondary Education, K - 12

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$66,395,080
Expenses
$62,784,972
Assets
$187,061,462
Liabilities
$13,901,156

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

Leadership & pay

37 people listed

Highest reported compensation

  • RANDALL DUNN (HEAD OF SCHOOL): $963,152 total reported compensation
  • SCOTT NELSON (FORMER HEAD OF SCHOOL): $755,144 total reported compensation
  • PAMELA GOLDMAN (ASST HEAD OF FINANCE & OPERATIONS): $433,907 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Rye Country Day School is a coeducational, college preparatory school dedicated to providing students with an excellent education in a nurturing environment. The school fosters a diverse community that values equity and inclusion, and encourages students to become active, engaged participants in shaping a more equitable and just world.

What it reported doing in 2024

Rye country day school is a highly competitive college preparatory school where students continue to achieve outstanding results on advanced placement exams, as well as the sat's and act's. The academic excellence, in turn supports a very successful matriculation rate at many of the nation's top colleges and universities. Rye country day school has continued to enjoy a healthy financial position as a result of strong admissions demand full enrollment, prudent financial management and generous fundraising support. The healthy financial position has enabled the school to maintain its extensive need-based financial aid program that provides $7,158,259 to 147 students throughout the school. The school has developed a comprehensive school-wide diversity plan that identifies initiatives related to students recruitment and support, parents support, school leadership, curriculum faculty recruitment and support, professional development and community building. There continues to be significant progress in each area as the school completes the tenth year of the diversity plan.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 84% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 86% 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

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. The filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 68
  • Transparency & Controls: 73
  • Accountability: 91
  • Sustainability: 61
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 73.3%; rating input score 73
  • Program expense ratio: 79.8%; rating input score 80
  • Fundraising efficiency: $2.96 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 10; 10th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 68th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 4 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 67
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Scored; rating input score 0
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 77th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 77th 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: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 5.4%; rating input score 58; 58th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.98; rating input score 75; 75th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.07; rating input score 86; 86th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 6.4%; rating input score 9; 9th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 4% per year; rating input score 100; 31st percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 4.1% per year; rating input score 100; 33rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 4.4% per year; rating input score 100; 31st percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 4 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
  • Where the money goes: 73.3% of revenue deployed · 79.8% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 28 of 28 board members independent · 7 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $50.1M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $963K · 37 people listed · 4 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $4.5M reported
  • Consistency: 39 of 39 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 11 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 16 filing years from 2009 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 9 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: Foreign activity oversight scored 0/100.
  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 10/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 9 not reported.
  • Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 58/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 9/100.