St Mary's School for the Deaf
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 160743171
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2009–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Buffalo, NY, USA
- Phone
- 7168347200
- Rating
- 83
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $14,104,674
- Expenses
- $13,582,572
- Assets
- $7,300,413
- Liabilities
- $4,224,550
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
19 people listed
Highest reported compensation
- AIMEE BELL (SUPERINTENDENT): $177,857 total reported compensation
- MARY DESTEFANO (DIRECTOR OF HUMAN RESOURCE): $124,683 total reported compensation
- RICHARD SZAFRANEK (DIRECTOR OF PUPIL PERSONNE): $120,856 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
St. Mary's school for the deaf is committed to providing equitable access to exemplary educational programs that prepare deaf students to be self-directed, lifelong learners, who are productive members of society.
What it reported doing in 2024
Educational school for hearing impaired children from pre-nursery to high school age. The center accomplishes this by providing educational, developmental, rehabilitative, and social programs using interrelated processes of education networking, advocacy, and community outreach.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Earned-program. 93% 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
STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown and expenses are high relative to revenue.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 77
- Transparency & Controls: 84
- Accountability: 100
- Sustainability: 37
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 84.6%; rating input score 85
- Program expense ratio: 87.9%; rating input score 88
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
- Compensation committee: Pass
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
- Written employment contract: Pass
- Compensation survey or study: Missing
- Board or committee approval: Pass
- 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: 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: 3.7%; rating input score 49; 49th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.54; rating input score 17; 17th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.58; rating input score 24; 24th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 4.8%; rating input score 52; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 1.2% per year; rating input score 100; 16th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 1.3% per year; rating input score 100; 14th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 1.9% per year; rating input score 100; 17th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 84.6% of revenue deployed · 87.9% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 14 of 14 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $11.9M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $178K · 19 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 4 contractors listed · $1.1M reported
- Consistency: 33 of 33 current checks pass
- Schedules: 9 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
- Filing history: 13 filing years from 2009 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 5 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 1 filed related-organization link
- 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 — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 17/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 49/100.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 24/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 52/100.