The Mountain School Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
260549280
IRS 990-EZ coverage
2009–2014
Forms available
Form 990 2013, Form 990-EZ 2014
Location
Bellevue, ID, USA
Phone
2087883170
Rating
81
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Education N.E.C.

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$49,088
Expenses
$68,905
Assets
$50,849
Liabilities
$125,624

Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2014. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

5 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • WARD WOODS (PRESIDENT)

People named in this filing

  • KATHERINE WOODS (DIRECTOR)
  • PRISCILLA WOODS (SECRETARY)
  • WARD WOODS (PRESIDENT)

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

Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2014. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

The mountain school uses a waldorf-inspired curriculum for all of its programs. The mountain school offers a variety of summer camp and year- round after school programs for 4 - 12 year old children. The learning environment and programs strive to awaken the head, heart, and hands (thinking, feeling, and willing) to discover the world and oneself. Approximately 35 children are served by the school.

What it reported doing in 2014

The mountain school uses a waldorf-inspired curriculum for all of its programs. After 7 years, the school discontinued its year-round grade school program (k - 4), but continued the summer camp and after school programs. The waldorf approach guides the teaching of wilderness survival skills, animal tracking, archery, garden harvesting, woodworking, and nature crafting. The facility offers a working garden & multitude of farm animals to give a hands on approach to waldorf & bio-dynamic permaculture learning.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 97% 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. Expenses are high relative to revenue and program spending has declined or grown slowly.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 94
  • Transparency & Controls: 82
  • Sustainability: 25
  • Growth: 0

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 85.3%; rating input score 85

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 51st percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Limited

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -40.4%; rating input score 13; 13th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.74; rating input score 40; 40th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 2.47; rating input score 3; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 57; 57th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -23.2% per year; rating input score 0; 21st percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -5.6% per year; rating input score 0; 39th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -0.4% per year; rating input score 0; 43rd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 85.3% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: Filed governance answers
  • Accomplishments: 2 filed program accomplishments · $59K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 5 people listed
  • Consistency: 7 of 7 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 2 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 2 filing years from 2009 to 2014
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 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.

Grant-readiness screening is separate from the live rating, not a measure of program quality. Review the source records before making a grant decision.

  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 13/100.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 40/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 3/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 57/100.
  • High — Grant Readiness: Automatic revocation: this organization had its federal tax-exempt status automatically revoked.