The Potter's House

Legal name: The Potters House

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
382372676
IRS 990 coverage
2020–2024
Official website data refreshed
Sep 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Grand Rapids, MI, United States
Phone
Elementary/Middle: (616) 241-5202; High School: (616) 249-8050
Rating
77
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Secondary, High School
Affiliation
Christianity

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$13,462,570
Expenses
$9,666,676
Assets
$18,509,466
Liabilities
$668,843

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

Leadership & pay

11 people listed

Highest reported compensation

  • John Booy (Superintendent): $187,561 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 Potter’s House provides a Christ-centered education for students of all ethnic heritages and income levels, equipping them to serve God and society to their fullest potential. The Potter’s House is an urban, Christ-centered school in the Roosevelt Park and Wyoming neighborhoods.** Our goal is for you to find the admission process an easy and enjoyable journey. We strive to find families that fit our mission and feel that God is calling them to send their children to our school. As stated in our mission, we seek to provide a Christ-centered education for students from all ethnic heritages and income levels, which means that we are not a first-come, first-serve school.** Historically, the founders of The Potter’s House established the school in 1981 in order to give families in the Roosevelt Park neighborhood a Christ-centered choice in education. Even though we sti.

What it reported doing in 2024

The Potters House is an accredited Christ-centered school located in urban Grand Rapids, Michigan. During the 2024-2025 school year we served 636 students of whom 48% are from families who qualify for free and reduced lunch and 56% are of an ethnic minority heritage. Parents pay tuition based on the families income and 79% of families receive some form of financial aid. Donations from individuals, foundations, churches and corporations provide 70% of the revenue. The Potters House is defying urban education statistics with a 98% high school graduation rate for the past three years and 90% of students attend college or a trade school after graduation.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 77% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
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.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - A large share of total spending goes to programs and the filed numbers largely add up. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 64
  • Transparency & Controls: 83
  • Accountability: 90
  • Sustainability: 78
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 56.6%; rating input score 57
  • Program expense ratio: 78.8%; rating input score 79
  • Fundraising efficiency: $17.46 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 54; 54th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Pass
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • 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: Scored; rating input score 0

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 66th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 6 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 75
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 28.2%; rating input score 87; 87th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.91; rating input score 60; 60th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.04; rating input score 86; 86th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 1.9%; rating input score 77; 77th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 9.3% per year; rating input score 100; 67th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 10.3% per year; rating input score 100; 75th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 1.3% per year; rating input score 100; 15th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 1 operating location identified
  • Where the money goes: 56.6% of revenue deployed · 78.8% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 10 of 10 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $7.6M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $188K · 11 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 1 contractor listed · $108K reported
  • Consistency: 34 of 34 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, executive pay, and related organizations
  • Filing history: 5 filing years from 2020 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • Related organizations: 1 filed related-organization link
  • 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 57/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 8 not reported.
  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 54/100.
  • High — Transparency & Controls: Related-party transparency scored 0/100.