The Learning Cooperative Dba Kansas City Academy

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
431341506
IRS 990 coverage
2012–2019
Forms available
Form 990 2019
Location
Kansas City, MO, USA
Phone
8164445225
Rating
74
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Secondary, High School

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$942,758
Expenses
$996,058
Assets
$455,729
Liabilities
$306,959

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2019. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

20 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • JENNIFER PATE-PITZEL (PRESIDENT)
  • KAREN PRANGE (VICE PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • KENDALL KERR (DIRECTOR): $40,160 total reported compensation
  • ANNE GOLDKAMP (DIRECTOR): $39,932 total reported compensation
  • ROBERT GRONNIGER (PRINCIPAL): $35,711 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2019. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Kansas city academy is a personalized learning community that respects individuality, encourages independent thinking, and values creativity in all disciplines.

What it reported doing in 2019

Provided scholarship funds to needy and/or deserving students so that they could attend school programs.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 81% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 88% 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

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. The filing does not identify recipients for some grant dollars and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 79
  • Transparency & Controls: 65
  • Accountability: 82
  • Sustainability: 21
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 91.1%; rating input score 91
  • Program expense ratio: 86.2%; rating input score 86
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 94.1%; rating input score 94; 24th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 0%; rating input score 0; 11th 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; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 4 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 57
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -5.7%; rating input score 23; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.46; rating input score 22; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.67; rating input score 14; 14th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 19%; rating input score 15; 15th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 5.7% per year; rating input score 100; 55th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 4.6% per year; rating input score 100; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 0.9% per year; rating input score 100; 30th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 91.1% of revenue deployed · 86.2% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 16 of 16 board members independent · 4 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $858K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $40K · 20 people listed
  • Consistency: 30 of 31 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
  • Filing history: 8 filing years from 2012 to 2019
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 7 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.

  • High — Transparency & Controls: Grant itemization coverage scored 0/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 23/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 22/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 14/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 15/100.