Sheridan School

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
536019409
IRS 990 coverage
2009–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Washington, DC, USA
Phone
2023627900
Rating
79
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Primary, Elementary Schools

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$12,101,725
Expenses
$11,707,744
Assets
$30,075,779
Liabilities
$15,796,910

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

Leadership & pay

27 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • JAMES HULME (2ND VICE CHAIR AND 2ND VICE PRESIDENT)
  • TRACY MANN (1ST VICE CHAIR AND 1ST VICE PRESIDENT)
  • PAVAN KHOOBCHANDANI (BOARD CHAIR & PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • COURTNEY MARTIN (HEAD OF SCHOOL): $400,557 total reported compensation
  • SUZANNE BADOUX (DIRECTOR OF FINANCE & OPS): $201,172 total reported compensation
  • MELANIE AUERBACH (DIR. OF STUDENT SUPPORT): $195,000 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Sheridan school's mission is to create an inclusive, vibrant learning community. We take joy in learning, show kindness and empathy towards others, embrace new experiences and ideas, and continually seek a deeper and fuller understanding of the world. We seek to inspire self-knowledge, intellectual discipline, and personal integrity in our community members. At both our city and mountain campuses, the sheridan community challenges itself to live the ideal of respect for oneself, others, and the environment.

What it reported doing in 2024

Summer camp: the school conducts a summer camp in three two-week sessions of up to 230 children ages 3 to 16 each summer. Children develop new skills, special talents, emerging interests and self-confidence by exploration and celebration of the visual and performing arts, culinary arts, and sports. Because of the construction of a new addition starting in december 2024, accompanied by building-wide renovations from june 2025 through august 2025, the decision was made not to run a summer camp during the summer of 2025. As a result, there were no camp revenues for june 2025 to report in this tax return. Summer camp programs are resuming for the summer of 2026.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 91% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 81% 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. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 73
  • Transparency & Controls: 87
  • Accountability: 83
  • Sustainability: 47
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 78.7%; rating input score 79
  • Program expense ratio: 84.1%; rating input score 84
  • Fundraising efficiency: $2.7 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 10; 10th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd 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: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 88.2%; rating input score 88; 20th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 6 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 75
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • 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: 3.3%; rating input score 47; 47th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.57; rating input score 70; 70th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.53; rating input score 27; 27th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 12.8%; rating input score 12; 12th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 3.6% per year; rating input score 100; 30th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 2.9% per year; rating input score 100; 25th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 7.4% per year; rating input score 100; 51st percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 78.7% of revenue deployed · 84.1% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 15 of 17 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $9.8M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $401K · 27 people listed · 4 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 1 contractor listed · $525K reported
  • Consistency: 38 of 38 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 11 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 16 filing years from 2009 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 8 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 — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 10/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 8 not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 47/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 12/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 27/100.