Sierra Foothill Charter School
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 452478458
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2012–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Catheys Valley, CA, USA
- Phone
- 2097426222
- Rating
- 74
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Charter Schools
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $2,383,325
- Expenses
- $2,114,682
- Assets
- $2,069,317
- Liabilities
- $913,290
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
7 people listed
Highest reported compensation
- SEAN JACOBS (Executive Dir.): $81,112 total reported compensation
- Mindy Bolar (Former Excutive Director): $24,390 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
The charter school mission is to provide a rigorous, well-rounded education, with a focus on science and sustainability, that helps students acquire the academic and personal skills they need to excel in higher education, think creatively, engage in a diverse society and pursue their dreams.
What it reported doing in 2024
Sierra foothill charter school is a California public charter school currently serving students in grades transitional kindergarten through eighth grade. The charter school mission is to provide a rigourous, well-rounded education, with a focus on science and sustainability, that helps students acquire the academic and personal skills they need to excel in higher education, think creatively, engage in a diverse society and pursue their dreams.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Grant-funded. 85% 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 total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 67
- Transparency & Controls: 65
- Accountability: 100
- Sustainability: 50
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 61.3%; rating input score 61
- Program expense ratio: 67.7%; rating input score 68
- Fundraising efficiency: $1,006.64 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 98; 98th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd 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; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 9 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 100
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: Pass
- Other executive compensation review process: Pass
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 11.3%; rating input score 65; 65th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.98; rating input score 36; 36th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.44; rating input score 24; 24th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 5%; rating input score 53; 53rd percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 7.5% per year; rating input score 100; 53rd percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 6.7% per year; rating input score 100; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 14.2% per year; rating input score 100; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 61.3% of revenue deployed · 67.7% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 5 of 5 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $1.4M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $81K · 7 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Consistency: 30 of 30 current checks pass
- Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
- Filing history: 13 filing years from 2012 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 2 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.
Grant-readiness screening is separate from the live rating, not a measure of program quality. Review the source records before making a grant decision.
- High — Transparency & Controls: Pay-setting controls scored 0/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 36/100.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 24/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 53/100.
- Review — Grant Readiness: California registration: this organization could not be resolved against the register, so the check is unfinished.