The Brenda & John H Duncan Rise School of Houston
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 760606866
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2010–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Houston, TX, USA
- Phone
- 7135327473
- Rating
- 88
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Specialized Education Institutions
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $3,702,849
- Expenses
- $4,465,676
- Assets
- $11,780,815
- Liabilities
- $784,043
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
21 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Dorothy Asim (Executive Director)
Highest reported compensation
- Jolanda Sinegal (Head of School): $106,949 total reported compensation
- Dorothy Asim (Executive Director): $101,909 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 mission of The Rise School of Houston is to provide the highest quality of early education services to children with developmental disabilities and those without disabilities.
What it reported doing in 2024
The Rise School provides family-centered services designed to meet the individualized needs of all children and families. The School's goal is to provide a blend of educational and therapy services within the context of a developmentally appropriate curriculum and to prepare children for their next educational environment. The 2024-25 school year was a very successful one for The Rise School of Houston. Our full capacity of 96 students with and without disabilities, ages six months to six years, learned and played together in inclusive classrooms and received therapeutic services in a "push-in" model. See Schedule OOf these students, 54% have a disability and 46% are typically-developing peers. Thanks to the school's vigorous scholarship program (all students receive some discounted tuition, and 75% of students receive additional financial aid), our student body remained diverse: 8% Asian, 23% African-American, 28% Hispanic and 42% White. The School has an affiliation agreement with Texas Children's Hospital to provide a coordinated program to meet the needs of its students. Under the affiliation agreement, Texas Children's Hospital provides utilities, maintenance, housekeeping, security, therapists, and consultation related to the operation of the School without charge.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
- Distribution model
- Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 76% for direct work, and 24% for grants.
- Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.
The verdict
STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and expenses are high relative to revenue.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 87
- Transparency & Controls: 94
- Accountability: 90
- Sustainability: 38
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
- Program expense ratio: 84.6%; rating input score 85
- Fundraising efficiency: $7.99 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 30; 30th percentile among comparable filings
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: 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: 90.5%; rating input score 90; 21st percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 8 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 89
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: Pass
- Other executive compensation review process: Fail
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -20.6%; rating input score 7; 7th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.64; rating input score 70; 70th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.07; rating input score 66; 66th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 4.7%; rating input score 56; 56th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 3.2% per year; rating input score 100; 29th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 3.6% per year; rating input score 100; 31st percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 2.8% per year; rating input score 100; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 84.6% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 19 of 21 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $3.8M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $107K · 21 people listed
- Consistency: 35 of 35 current checks pass
- Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
- Filing history: 15 filing years from 2010 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 2 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.
- Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 30/100.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 7/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Other executive compensation review process not reported.
- Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 56/100.