The Montessori Network
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 272803775
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2015–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Chicago, IL, USA
- Phone
- 7735359255
- Rating
- 82
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Charter Schools
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $7,385,355
- Expenses
- $8,081,167
- Assets
- $924,128
- Liabilities
- $1,291,482
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
12 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- EBONIE TOWNSEND (VICE PRESIDENT)
- KAREN ANDERSON (PRESIDENT)
- RITA NOLAN (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)
Highest reported compensation
- RITA NOLAN (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $164,785 total reported compensation
- MARGARET MIKUZIS (CHIEF OPERATING OFFI CER): $135,942 total reported compensation
- STEPHANIE MARIE TOON (ACADEMIC DIRECTOR): $124,852 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 montessori approach to education integrates the work of the head, hand, and heart; introducing students not only to the fundamentals of essential knowledge, but also to the connections across disciplines, and in the end, to the application of knowledge to their lives within their homes, schools, work and communities throughout their lives. Guided by self-discovery and self-improvement, students at the montessori school of englewood express the integration of the three h's through exercising core strengths like curiosity, self-control, persistence and optimism.
What it reported doing in 2024
The montessori school of englewood is a chicago public charter elementary school that opened in august 2012 and has since grown to include students from preschool through eighth grade. Located in the west englewood community, the school served early childhood students and charter students in kindergarten through eighth grade. The montessori school of englewood offers an alternative curricular approach to serve the diverse ethnic, socioeconomic, language, and educational backgrounds of students from early childhood, elementary, and middle school. We believe that the best way of meeting the challenges of our diversity is via a proven educational curriculum, committed to community involvement and small student to teacher ratios to provide holistic education of the head, heart, and hand.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Grant-funded. 94% of the money available for current operations came from government grants.
- 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 most voting board members are independent. Expenses are high relative to revenue and total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 91
- Transparency & Controls: 66
- Accountability: 100
- Sustainability: 13
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 96.8%; rating input score 97
- Program expense ratio: 88.4%; rating input score 88
- Fundraising efficiency: $36.97 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 73; 73rd percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 92.9%; rating input score 93; 13th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 1 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 17
- Compensation committee: Missing
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
- Written employment contract: Missing
- Compensation survey or study: Missing
- Board or committee approval: Pass
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: Limited
- 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: 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: -9.4%; rating input score 14; 14th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.11; rating input score 3; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 1.4; rating input score 2; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 6.7%; rating input score 43; 43rd percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 10.3% per year; rating input score 100; 65th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 8.1% per year; rating input score 100; 60th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 3.8% per year; rating input score 100; 28th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 96.8% of revenue deployed · 88.4% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 8 of 8 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $7.1M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $165K · 12 people listed · 1 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 4 contractors listed · $882K reported
- Consistency: 30 of 31 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
- Filing history: 9 filing years from 2015 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 4 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
- 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 — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 14/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 3/100.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 2/100.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 43/100.