The Chandler School

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
951983538
IRS 990 coverage
2009–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Pasadena, CA, USA
Phone
6267959314
Rating
75
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$21,493,662
Expenses
$18,789,305
Assets
$81,097,482
Liabilities
$9,759,974

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

Leadership & pay

29 people listed

Highest reported compensation

  • EMILY BROWN (HEAD OF SCHOOL): $362,781 total reported compensation
  • JOAN BRAVO (DIR OF DEVELOPMENT): $268,844 total reported compensation
  • NATALIE MORALES (DIR OF FINANCE): $227,634 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Chandler's mission is to provide each student with the highest quality and most academically challenging education in a nurturing, balanced and diverse environment. Chandler strives to have its students gain a love of learning, a means of thinking independently and an ability to work collaboratively. A chandler education seeks to develop good character, self-reliance and a commitment to community in students as a foundation for academic and personal success

What it reported doing in 2024

Chandler school is an independent, coeducational day school providing instruction to approximately 450 students in grades kindergarten through eighth grade. The school's goals are to uphold the chandler tradition of academic excellence and intellectual discipline in a program that develops the mind, body and spirit; to promote respect, trustworthiness, responsibility, fairness, caring and citizenship, which are the core values of our school community; to foster an educational environment that values and communicates respect for racial, religious, cultural and economic differences, and to serve the greater community, recognizing that as much is given to us, much is expected from us.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 71% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 85% 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. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 61
  • Transparency & Controls: 79
  • Accountability: 91
  • Sustainability: 69
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 61.6%; rating input score 62
  • Program expense ratio: 74.6%; rating input score 75
  • Fundraising efficiency: $3.21 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 12; 12th 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: 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: 100%; rating input score 100; 66th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 7 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 78
    • 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: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 12.6%; rating input score 72; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 4.32; rating input score 82; 82nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.12; rating input score 70; 70th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 8.4%; rating input score 27; 27th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 4.3% per year; rating input score 100; 36th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 3.6% per year; rating input score 100; 30th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 5.3% per year; rating input score 100; 37th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 61.6% of revenue deployed · 74.6% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 22 of 22 board members independent · 7 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $14M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $363K · 29 people listed · 2 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 2 contractors listed · $278K reported
  • Consistency: 39 of 39 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 11 filed schedules · includes major donors, 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 — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 12/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 9 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 27/100.