The Link School

Legal name: The Link School Llc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
465383256
IRS 990 coverage
2019–2025
Official website data refreshed
Sep 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2018, Form 990-N 2015
Location
Acworth, GA, US
Phone
404-558-9809
Rating
83
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Standard
Sector
Primary, Elementary Schools

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$278,722
Expenses
$297,155
Assets
$403,746
Liabilities
$97,294

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

3 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • REBECCA SARTAIN (PRESIDENT)
  • LAURA FIELDS (VICE-PRESIDENT)

People named in this filing

  • REBECCA SARTAIN (PRESIDENT)
  • LAURA FIELDS (VICE-PRESIDENT)
  • CAROLYN GOZA (SECRETARY TREASURER)

Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

The Link School’s mission is to provide a nurturing and empowering learning environment where students thrive and gain confidence. We provide education that meets each student at their individual readiness level, fostering lifelong interests and passion for learning through innovative instructional approaches and personalized learning. The Link School cultivates a community of engaged learners who become equipped with the skills, knowledge, and resilience to succeed.

What it reported doing in 2025

During the school year the school maintained attendance at 25 students, teachers at 11.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 96% 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. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 84
  • Transparency & Controls: 100
  • Accountability: 63
  • Sustainability: 35
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 95.8%; rating input score 96
  • Program expense ratio: 89.8%; rating input score 90
  • Fundraising efficiency: $1.52 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 8; 8th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th 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: 66.7%; rating input score 67; 21st percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 4 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 57
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • 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: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -6.6%; rating input score 23; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.36; rating input score 49; 49th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.24; rating input score 15; 15th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 67; 67th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 6.7% per year; rating input score 100; 57th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 10.2% per year; rating input score 100; 70th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 19% per year; rating input score 100; 81st percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 4 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
  • Where the money goes: 95.8% of revenue deployed · 89.8% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 2 of 3 board members independent · 4 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $267K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 3 people listed
  • Consistency: 21 of 21 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 6 filing years from 2019 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • 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 8/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 6 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 23/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 49/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 15/100.