Signal School of Physical Education

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
621015173
IRS 990 coverage
2021–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2020, Form 990-N 2017
Location
Signal Mountain, TN, USA
Phone
4236642752
Rating
77
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate

Reported finances

Revenue
$263,502
Expenses
$234,197
Assets
$485,088
Liabilities
$585

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

5 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • DOROTHY BREWER (CEO/BOARD CHAIR)
  • CHARITY LIVINGSTON (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)

Highest reported compensation

  • DOROTHY BREWER (CEO/BOARD CHAIR): $51,500 total reported compensation
  • CHARITY LIVINGSTON (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $48,008 total reported compensation
  • MARK DAVIS (DIRECTOR): $3,771 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

To promote physical fitness, providing quality sports education at an economical cost. Our rates are the lowest in the region, enabling children to experience sports they would not have the opportunity for otherwise. We seek to foster a lifelong love of sports and fitness.

What it reported doing in 2025

Gymnastics classes for pre-school through teens. Coaching approximately 200 students per session, there are 4 eight week-long sessions in a year. Younger students learn agility, coordination, balance and control. Students can progress to higher levels of gymnastics as skills are accomplished, up to and including team competitions. In some cases, students whose families are facing financial hardships are offered discounted tuition.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 96% 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

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 71
  • Transparency & Controls: 90
  • Accountability: 69
  • Sustainability: 51
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 75.4%; rating input score 75
  • Program expense ratio: 88.7%; rating input score 89
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th 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: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 2 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 25
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: Fail
    • Other executive compensation review process: Limited
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 11.1%; rating input score 58; 58th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.07; rating input score 60; 60th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 50; 50th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 44.1%; rating input score 5; 5th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 10.4% per year; rating input score 100; 68th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 10.1% per year; rating input score 100; 69th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 24.4% per year; rating input score 100; 87th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 75.4% of revenue deployed · 88.7% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 5 of 5 board members independent · 2 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $208K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $52K · 5 people listed
  • Consistency: 39 of 39 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 5 filing years from 2021 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 5 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 — Accountability: Governance controls: 5 of 7 not reported.
  • Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 58/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 5/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 50/100.