The Bellingham Public School Foundation

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
911551087
IRS 990 coverage
2012–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-N 2011
Location
Bellingham, WA, USA
Phone
3606766479
Rating
77
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate

Reported finances

Revenue
$679,198
Expenses
$557,689
Assets
$1,051,654
Liabilities
$2,348

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

Leadership & pay

14 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • CHRIS SCHEPPER (PRESIDENT)
  • SAMUEL GEARHART (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)

Highest reported compensation

  • SAMUEL GEARHART (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $105,386 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 bellingham public school foundation raises funds and stewards community resources so that every child feels healthy, engaged, supported and challenged.

What it reported doing in 2024

Equity, diversity, inclusion: supports programs that celebrate diversity including folklorico mexican dance club and latinx student graduation celebration; back to school block party and winter blast events that welcomes multicultural students and families into our school community; native american children's book grant; salary support for additional staffing at family resource centers where families receive basic needs support services. Annual educator grants: multi-lingual books; libraries that reflect equity, diversity & inclusion; unified sports activities that engage life skills and special education students; outdoor education field trips; social emotional learning through art for elementary students; celebrating native american heritage through art; afterschool tutoring for high school students. Salary support for strategic employees of bellingham public schools: grant writers have secured more than $10,000,000 in additional resources for our district.stem: grants that support science, technology, engineering and math projects in the classroom; salmon in the classroom program providing salmon eggs and aquariums to elementary schools; middle school drone programing grant; high school chemestry field trip; pnuematics for high school robotics program. Wellness: school based mental health counseling services for low income students; animal therapy program for students; healthy eating and physical wellness speaker. District event support: promise awards highlight the outstanding contribution that staff and community members make to our schools; annual staff retirement recognition. Supporting staff moral and great teaching that leads to the best outcome for our students. Student club grants: awarded to high school and middle school clubs who showcase ingenuity and give students a voice. Early childhood education: playground equipment for preschool classes.visual & performing arts: 6th grade band student coaching by outside music tutors who come into our schools to support student success.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 79% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 56% for direct work, and 44% for grants.

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 fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 67
  • Transparency & Controls: 86
  • Accountability: 79
  • Sustainability: 64
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 67%; rating input score 67
  • Program expense ratio: 80.1%; rating input score 80
  • Fundraising efficiency: $8.17 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 31; 31st percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 92.9%; rating input score 93; 19th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 84.8%; rating input score 85; 36th 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; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 4 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 17.9%; rating input score 74; 74th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.89; rating input score 63; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 77; 77th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 18.9%; rating input score 16; 16th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 10.2% per year; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 9.1% per year; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 10.2% per year; rating input score 100; 59th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 67% of revenue deployed · 80.1% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 13 of 13 board members independent · 4 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $447K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $105K · 14 people listed
  • Consistency: 26 of 27 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
  • Filing history: 7 filing years from 2012 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 6 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 6 filed related-organization links
  • 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.

  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 7 not reported.
  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 31/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 16/100.