The Pine School
Legal name: The Pine School Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 591276282
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2009–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Hobe Sound, FL, USA
- Phone
- 772-675-7005
- Rating
- 76
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Kindergarten, Preschool, Nursery School, Early Admissions
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $25,514,750
- Expenses
- $16,394,132
- Assets
- $39,780,753
- Liabilities
- $15,637,619
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
23 people listed
Highest reported compensation
- Binney P Caffrey (Head of School): $325,703 total reported compensation
- John Boyer (Director of Development): $131,650 total reported compensation
- Kelly Hilton-Green (Assistant Head of School): $120,690 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 Pine School is an independent college preparatory school educating students in Kindergarten through 12th Grade, promoting academic, artistic, and athletic excellence in a close-knit learning environment that extends from the classroom to its expansive natural campus and beyond. A strong outcome in this search depends on meaningful input from the PINE community. In the coming weeks, community members will be invited to share perspectives through a survey. We strongly encourage thoughtful participation. Your input will directly inform the position description and help shape the direction of the search. CS&A will also conduct an on-campus visit on Friday, May 15th to meet with a broad cross-section of faculty, staff, and other stakeholders. We encourage thoughtful participation, as this is an important opportunity to help shape PINE’s next chapter.
What it reported doing in 2024
The Pine School is a premier nonsectarian college preparatory day school dedicated to providing a superior educational experience for children from kindergarten through 12th grade. With an enrollment of nearly 500 students, the School fosters an environment of excellence in instruction and comprehensive student engagement. The academic program is distinguished by its personalized approach to student success. Staffed by expert learning specialists, the School develops unique learning profiles for each child that highlight their strengths and natural interests. The student support team designs and implements educational plans that align with every student's specific academic ability, developmental level, and intellectual potential to ensure optimal growth. (Continued on Schedule O)The School demonstrates its commitment to recognizing talent and service through two key financial aid initiatives. The Pine School Scholarship Program is awarded to students who demonstrate exceptional academic strength. Additionally, the Patriot Scholarship Program honors the families of active or veteran United States military personnel by awarding scholarships to qualifying Upper School students.Passionate about arts education, The Pine School believes that every student should have the opportunity to cultivate their artistic talents. The curriculum encourages creativity and collaboration, offering students numerous avenues to contribute to the school and community through artistic expression. This commitment is showcased through multiple musical and theatrical performances throughout the year, alongside a variety of visual arts exhibits.The athletic program emphasizes the value of physical activity, good sportsmanship, and the joy of competition. The School is the proud home of the 2024-2025 FHSAA Varsity Boys Soccer State Champions and the Varsity Girls Soccer State Runners Up. Offering a diverse range of options including cross country, flag football, golf, sailing, swimming, volleyball, beach volleyball, basketball, lacrosse, tennis, and track and field, the program promotes fitness for life.Finally, the School cultivates a vibrant community through various events including parent receptions and donor stewardship gatherings designed to support annual giving and campaign plans. Signature events include an annual Auction that raises significant funds for financial assistance and faculty professional growth, as well as a popular Car Show that attracts over 2,000 visitors to campus to raise money for the Patriot Scholarship Fund. An annual golf tournament generates vital resources to further support the athletic programs.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Earned-program. 67% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The filing allocates 81% 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.
- Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.
The verdict
SUPPORTED - The filed numbers largely add up and most voting board members are independent. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 58
- Transparency & Controls: 79
- Accountability: 100
- Sustainability: 73
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 51.1%; rating input score 51
- Program expense ratio: 80.6%; rating input score 81
- Fundraising efficiency: $6.22 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 25; 25th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd 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; 66th 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: 35.7%; rating input score 90; 90th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.43; rating input score 68; 68th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.39; rating input score 37; 37th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 4.9%; rating input score 51; 51st percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 4.7% per year; rating input score 100; 40th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 6.6% per year; rating input score 100; 56th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 7.7% per year; rating input score 100; 53rd percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 1 operating location identified
- Where the money goes: 51.1% of revenue deployed · 80.6% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 20 of 20 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $13.2M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $326K · 23 people listed · 2 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $2.2M reported
- Consistency: 35 of 35 current checks pass
- Schedules: 10 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
- Filing history: 15 filing years from 2009 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 5 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.
- Review — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 51/100.
- High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 25/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 37/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 51/100.