The Journey School
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 472017503
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2016–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2020, Form 990-N 2014
- Location
- Columbia, MD, USA
- Phone
- 2403246160
- Rating
- 84
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Secondary, High School
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $1,256,804
- Expenses
- $1,197,559
- Assets
- $298,252
- Liabilities
- $85
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
6 people listed
Highest reported compensation
- CHRISTINA THOMAS (HEAD OF SCHOOL): $74,557 total reported compensation
- CARRIE WEITZMAN (DIRECTOR): $67,754 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
A community sustained educational parnership which supports a child's intrinsic curiosity, sense of justice, and social responsibility using the montessori philosophy to engage each child in their own excellence, both academically and personally.
What it reported doing in 2024
Provide a montessori inspired education and services to students in grades 6-8.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Earned-program. 98% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
- 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. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 85
- Transparency & Controls: 90
- Accountability: 79
- Sustainability: 40
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 93.5%; rating input score 94
- Program expense ratio: 98.2%; rating input score 98
- 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: Limited
- 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: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Fail
- CEO compensation review process: Pass
- Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Missing
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 4.7%; rating input score 49; 49th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.25; rating input score 12; 12th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 82; 82nd percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 11.9%; rating input score 31; 31st percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 23.2% per year; rating input score 100; 86th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 22% per year; rating input score 100; 87th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 8.4% per year; rating input score 100; 53rd percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 93.5% of revenue deployed · 98.2% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 6 of 6 board members independent · 4 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $1.2M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $75K · 6 people listed
- Consistency: 27 of 27 current checks pass
- Schedules: 4 filed schedules
- Filing history: 7 filing years from 2016 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 4 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.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 7 not reported.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 12/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 49/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 31/100.