The James & Grace Lee Boggs School
Legal name: The James and Grace Lee Boggs School
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 463002637
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2013–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Detroit, MI, US
- Phone
- (313) 923-2301
- Rating
- 84
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Professional Societies, Associations
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $2,539,419
- Expenses
- $2,389,935
- Assets
- $799,621
- Liabilities
- $198,040
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
7 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- KENNY ROSE (Vice President)
- COURTNEY WISE RANDOLPH (President)
Highest reported compensation
- JULIA PUTNAM (Principal): $90,416 total reported compensation
- AMANDA ROSMAN (Executive Dir.): $90,074 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Our mission is to nurture creative, critical thinkers who contribute to the well-being of their communities.
What it reported doing in 2024
The James and Grace Lee Boggs School (also known as The Boggs School) is a public school academy (charter school) serving students in grades K 8 on Detroits east side. The school is chartered by Eastern Michigan University. The school implements Place-Based Education, a model of instruction focused on place, where the geography, history, community members, problems, and resources of childrensconcentric communities form the foundation for academic and artistic learning. It is a community-based school, as the community has been part of the visioning and building of the school itself. Community Teachers, non-certified teachers from the arts and local communities, teach Boggs students their arts and skills in cooperation with the certified classroom teachers.The 2024-2025 school year was the school's twelth year in operation, serving 171 children and their families in 10 classrooms.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Grant-funded. 95% 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. Total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown and expenses are high relative to revenue.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 77
- Transparency & Controls: 92
- Accountability: 95
- Sustainability: 37
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 84.4%; rating input score 84
- Program expense ratio: 89.7%; rating input score 90
- 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: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 7 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 88
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Fail
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
- 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: 5.9%; rating input score 53; 53rd percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.33; rating input score 11; 11th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.25; rating input score 39; 39th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 7.6%; rating input score 39; 39th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 11.1% per year; rating input score 100; 68th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 10.4% per year; rating input score 100; 70th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 9.5% per year; rating input score 100; 57th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 7 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
- Where the money goes: 84.4% of revenue deployed · 89.7% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 5 of 5 board members independent · 7 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $2.1M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $90K · 7 people listed
- Consistency: 29 of 29 current checks pass
- Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 11 filing years from 2013 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 2 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: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 11/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 53/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Whistleblower policy not reported.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 39/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 39/100.