The Seabury School

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
943098250
IRS 990 coverage
2011–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Tacoma, WA, USA
Phone
2539523111
Rating
84
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate

Reported finances

Revenue
$2,089,769
Expenses
$2,376,774
Assets
$751,655
Liabilities
$1,336,305

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

Leadership & pay

11 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • SALLY JANIS (PRESIDENT)
  • KELLY BROWN (VICE PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • ROB SCOTLAN (HEAD OF SCHOOL): $61,654 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Seabury school challenges gifted children in a community that cherishes each individual and fosters a love of learning, discovery and creativity. Seabury specializes in education for gifted/ highly capable children. Seabury is a 501(c)(3) independent school accredited by the northwest association of independent schools (nwais) serving children from pre-k through grade 8, and supported through tuition, fees and fundraising. Seabury also provides resources for gifted children and their parents in the community through summer enrichment camps, parenting programs, and an annual speaker series. Fundraising and gifts enhance seaburys program and facilities, and enable seabury to make the program accessible to more families.

What it reported doing in 2024

In addition to seaburys school program, seaburysquared offers programs and services to children, parents and educators in the broader south sound region. Gifted children have unique educational and developmental needs that are often not well served in typical school programs. Traditional systems for identification of gifted children often miss students who need services, particularly students of color, students of limited means, and twice-exceptional students. Seaburysquared provides enrichment classes and camps for students from the community as well as programs on parenting and educating gifted children for parents and educators. Program participation does not require testing or qualification, so any student or family interested may attend. Financial aid is provided based on need. Approximately 80% of seaburysquared participants are from the community (not seabury students). Seaburysquared programs extend the services seabury provides to gifted children, their families and the local education community, allowing seabury to serve as a regional resource for gifted education services. Seaburysquared programs for students during the 24-25 school year included saturday enrichment classes and 4 weeks of summer camps. Programs for parents and educators included seaburys annual speaker series, co-sponsored by the university of puget sound school of education and featuring austina debonte, a local expert in parenting and education of gifted and twice-exceptional students. Planning is already in process for seaburysquared programming for the upcoming school year.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 86% 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 75% for direct work, and 25% for grants.

The verdict

STRONG - 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 some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 82
  • Transparency & Controls: 94
  • Accountability: 84
  • Sustainability: 16
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 94.8%; rating input score 95
  • Program expense ratio: 83.4%; rating input score 83
  • Fundraising efficiency: $3.66 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 11; 11th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • 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: 5 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 62
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • 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: Fail
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -13.7%; rating input score 10; 10th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.32; rating input score 10; 10th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 1.78; rating input score 2; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 2.6%; rating input score 72; 72nd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 5.6% per year; rating input score 100; 43rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 4% per year; rating input score 100; 34th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 2.3% per year; rating input score 100; 21st percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 94.8% of revenue deployed · 83.4% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 7 of 7 board members independent · 5 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $2M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $62K · 11 people listed
  • Consistency: 33 of 33 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
  • Filing history: 14 filing years from 2011 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • 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.

  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 11/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 8 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 10/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 10/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 2/100.