The Leadership Academy Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
030503570
IRS 990 coverage
2016–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
New York, NY, USA
Phone
7186834192
Rating
81
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Standard
Sector
Education N.E.C.

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$6,014,329
Expenses
$7,112,160
Assets
$7,146,859
Liabilities
$340,681

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

Leadership & pay

26 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • DR NANCY B GUTIERREZ (PRESIDENT AND CEO)
  • ANTHONY KING (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF EXTERNAL ENGAGEMENT)
  • DAVID BAIZ (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF PROGRAMS)
  • MARIANNA FISCHER (ASSOCIATE VICE PRESIDENT, RESEARCH, EVALUATION & IMPACT)
  • PHILIP BENOWITZ (ASSOCIATE VICE PRESIDENT, CLIENT ENGAGEMENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • DR NANCY B GUTIERREZ (PRESIDENT AND CEO): $356,087 total reported compensation
  • DAVID BAIZ (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF PROGRAMS): $213,432 total reported compensation
  • MARY JO DUNNINGTON (CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER): $213,082 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Harnessing leadership as a lever for change, we partner with education leaders through professional learning and coaching to transform schools and accelerate learning for all students.

What it reported doing in 2024

The Leadership Academy designs exceptional learning experiences for sitting and aspiring education leaders at every level-from superintendents to principals to teacher leaders-elevating impact for every student. The Leadership Academy's services include: System-Level Leaders * Executive leadership coaching, team coaching, and support in building coaching skillset. * Deep work that aligns executive teams around priorities, culture, and decisive action. * Support in creating or evolving system leadership frameworks and behaviors. * Pathway programs that prepare leaders for the superintendency. School-Level Leaders * Professional learning to cultivate effective leadership behaviors and strengthen data-driven decision making. * Support in creating classroom walkthrough guidelines and strengthening instructional leadership practices. * Leadership coaching, team coaching, and building capacity to coach teachers for greater impact. * Pathway programs, that prepare principals for system-level leadership roles, and APs for principal roles. Teacher Leaders * Professional learning to strengthen student-centered instructional practices. * Building capacity to lead data-driven instructional improvement. * Leadership coaching and support in strengthening coaching impact for teachers and instructional teams. * Pathway programs to prepare for assistant principal, and principal roles. Preparing Aspiring Leaders Develops leaders through a 14month leadership development model which equips future principals to create thriving schools that advance improved teaching and learning practices. Supporting Current School Leaders Partners with districts and states to implement a strategic approach to professional development by engaging in strategic planning, curriculum design and delivery and program assessment. Supporting Leadership Teams Helps school principals to possess the ability and capacity to effectively collaborate with their fellow school leaders and teachers to share responsibility and accountability for school improvement and student achievement. Supporting District Leaders Builds district leaders and principal supervisor's capacity to support and develop effective principals and to manage school leader performance. Coaching Provides leadership coaching, coach training and strategic consulting for coaching programs to help districts, states, charter school, and other education focused organizations that work with schools to leverage the role of the Principal as it influences student achievement.

Operating model

Revenue model
Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 99% 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. Expenses are high relative to revenue and program spending has declined or grown slowly.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 83
  • Transparency & Controls: 88
  • Accountability: 96
  • Sustainability: 23
  • Growth: 20

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 91.8%; rating input score 92
  • Program expense ratio: 77.5%; rating input score 77
  • Fundraising efficiency: $17.87 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 56; 56th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Pass
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • 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: 92.9%; rating input score 93; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 9 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 100
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • 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: -18.3%; rating input score 8; 8th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1; rating input score 37; 37th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.05; rating input score 71; 71st percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 34.3%; rating input score 4; 4th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -3.4% per year; rating input score 0; 7th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -1.6% per year; rating input score 0; 7th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 3.7% per year; rating input score 100; 28th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 91.8% of revenue deployed · 77.5% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 13 of 14 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $5.5M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $356K · 26 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 2 contractors listed · $406K reported
  • Consistency: 31 of 31 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 9 filing years from 2016 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 14 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 2 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.

  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 8/100.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 56/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 37/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 4/100.