St Paul School of Northern Lights
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 825294565
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2019–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- St Paul, MN, USA
- Phone
- 6122854672
- Rating
- 82
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Charter Schools
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $5,595,845
- Expenses
- $5,922,436
- Assets
- $5,115,190
- Liabilities
- $6,402,546
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
11 people listed
Highest reported compensation
- SALLIE HARRIS (TREASURER): $62,691 total reported compensation
- JENNIFER NEWMAN (MEMBER): $33,966 total reported compensation
- MICHAEL HARRISON (MEMBER): $33,860 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Exploring our urban ecosystem, st. Paul school of northern lights ensures a progressive, relationship-based learning process, educating students to be kind, curious, critical thinkers who are advocating for positive change in their diverse communities.
What it reported doing in 2024
To provide students in grade k-7 a reggio-emilia inspired learning experience. During the fiscal year ending june 30, 2025, the school served approximately 231 students.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Grant-funded. 96% 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
STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Expenses are high relative to revenue and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 86
- Transparency & Controls: 92
- Accountability: 70
- Sustainability: 27
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 99.5%; rating input score 99
- Program expense ratio: 94%; rating input score 94
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: Limited
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: Limited
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 63.6%; rating input score 64; 10th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 7 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 78
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Fail
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: Pass
- Other executive compensation review process: Pass
- Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -5.8%; rating input score 19; 19th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.86; rating input score 32; 32nd percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 1.25; rating input score 3; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 2.7%; rating input score 71; 71st percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 25.4% per year; rating input score 100; 90th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 19.2% per year; rating input score 100; 87th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 33.8% per year; rating input score 100; 95th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 99.5% of revenue deployed · 94% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 7 of 11 board members independent · 7 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $5.6M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $63K · 11 people listed
- Highest-paid contractors: 3 contractors listed · $320K reported
- Consistency: 30 of 30 current checks pass
- Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 6 filing years from 2019 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 4 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
- 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: Operating margin scored 19/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 9 not reported.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 32/100.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 3/100.