The Barstow School

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
440546207
IRS 990 coverage
2009–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024
Location
Kansas City, MO, USA
Phone
8169423255
Rating
72
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$23,902,928
Expenses
$26,211,471
Assets
$50,925,407
Liabilities
$15,163,403

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

Leadership & pay

24 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • SHANE FOSTER (PRESIDENT (UNTIL 6/30/25))
  • SHARON MCKIBBEN (SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT & CFO)
  • DANIEL MCNICKLE (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR SUMMER CAMPS)

Highest reported compensation

  • SHANE FOSTER (PRESIDENT (UNTIL 6/30/25)): $527,453 total reported compensation
  • SHARON MCKIBBEN (SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT & CFO): $263,820 total reported compensation
  • ELIZABETH BARTOW (COO): $193,844 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 organization is a private co-educational college preparatory school for preschool through 12th grade. The objective of the school is to "promote sound scholarship and to give symmetrical development to mind, body and character."

What it reported doing in 2024

A. Barstow school's mission is to promote sound scholarship and to give symmetrical development to mind, body and character. Barstow combines rigorous academics, individualized learning and an emphasis on steam to provide the best independent school education in the region. We are a preschool through 12th grade school educating approximately 775 students and we graduated 58 seniors.idea space kc , powered by barstow, is our learning center serving students throughout the community and at barstow. Over 2,000 students learned to use the technology and tools that power tomorrow's workforce through our steam learning experiences.internationally, we offered 1,100 and 145 students the opportunity to be taught at schools managed by barstow in china and ghana, respectively.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 92% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 88% 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. The filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 62
  • Transparency & Controls: 67
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 33
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 71.9%; rating input score 72
  • Program expense ratio: 64.6%; rating input score 65
  • Fundraising efficiency: $1.58 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 5; 5th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 2 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 33
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • 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: Scored; rating input score 0
  • 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: 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: -9.7%; rating input score 10; 10th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.94; rating input score 61; 61st percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.3; rating input score 46; 46th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 6.2%; rating input score 41; 41st percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 4% per year; rating input score 100; 34th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 5.7% per year; rating input score 100; 49th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 6.3% per year; rating input score 100; 44th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 71.9% of revenue deployed · 64.6% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 16 of 16 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $16.9M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $527K · 24 people listed · 2 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $4.8M reported
  • Consistency: 39 of 39 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 13 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 16 filing years from 2009 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 7 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 — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight scored 0/100.
  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 5/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 10/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 41/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 46/100.