The Meadowbrook School

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
231352659
IRS 990 coverage
2009–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Meadowbrook, PA, USA
Phone
2158843238
Rating
78
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Elementary, Secondary Education, K - 12

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$3,650,175
Expenses
$3,755,891
Assets
$2,531,091
Liabilities
$2,264,133

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

Leadership & pay

14 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • MARLENE SIDHU (PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • MICHAEL REARDON (HEADMASTER): $153,139 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

The mission of the meadowbrook school is to bring life to learning for elementary-aged children in a nurturing, fun, and collaborative environment. Our philosophy is to use our diverse, cohesive community to prepare our students for their next steps by cultivating intellectual, social, emotional, and physical growth. Our interwoven approach to curriculum fosters confident, compassionate, and creative learners.

What it reported doing in 2024

Meadowbrook is a small, co-educational independent school founded in 1919. Located in abington township, pa, the school is committed to meeting the intellectual, social, and emotional needs of its students with the framework of a traditional and structured program. Explicit rules are kept to a minimum. Small classes, flexible groupings, extensive use of teaching assistants, a rich array of special offerings, and mixed-age social situations are prevalent. The climate of the school is warm and personal. Helping each other, sharing, working hard, and respecting other people's ideas and feelings are some of the guiding principles. Meadowbrook is also unique in its strong family emphasis. First, parents are viewed as partners in the learning process. Communication between home and school is frequent. Also, meadowbrook is a non-profit parent corporation with each family playing a vital role in the school's development. The board of directors is primarily composed of parents who establish the policies of the school. Finally, parents are evident in all areas of school life. They assist teachers as special resources, helpers on trips, and in organizing special classroom events. There is an official parent organization called p.o.m. (parents of meadowbrook) that primarily raises money for projects that will benefit the school and further its reputation as one of the area's leading independent schools. Meadowbrook school offers an unwavering commitment to academic excellence for a diverse population of elementary school children. The school believes education includes learning to appreciate the value of hard work, expanding a sense of integrity, and practicing humanity toward others while inspiring students to make positive differences. We strive to have our students well-prepared and eager to take on future challenges. The school served 118 students during the year.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 77% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
Distribution model
Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 73% for direct work, and 27% for grants.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - 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 expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 69
  • Transparency & Controls: 79
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 27
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 77.3%; rating input score 77
  • Program expense ratio: 75.2%; rating input score 75
  • Fundraising efficiency: $4.56 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 15; 15th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 2 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 33
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Pass
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • 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: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 8 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 100
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • 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: -2.9%; rating input score 24; 24th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.67; rating input score 25; 25th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.89; rating input score 8; 8th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 4.1%; rating input score 60; 60th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 3.4% per year; rating input score 100; 30th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 2.9% per year; rating input score 100; 26th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 4.4% per year; rating input score 100; 31st percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 77.3% of revenue deployed · 75.2% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 13 of 13 board members independent · 8 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $2.8M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $153K · 14 people listed · 2 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 33 of 33 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 9 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 16 filing years from 2009 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.
  • Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 15/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 24/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 25/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 8/100.