The Sequoyah Educational Center
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 952022023
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2014–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Pasadena, CA, USA
- Phone
- 6267954351
- Rating
- 74
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $17,709,264
- Expenses
- $14,949,028
- Assets
- $36,161,397
- Liabilities
- $16,763,363
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
26 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Laura Gowen (President)
- Joyce Ybarra (Vice President (end 6/25))
Highest reported compensation
- R Hong (Head of School): $380,555 total reported compensation
- M Barak (CFO): $209,703 total reported compensation
- K Diaz (Assistant Head of School/Dir. of K8): $204,829 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Sequoyah School is a community of learners. A Sequoyah education challenges the mind, nurtures the heart and celebrates human dignity.
What it reported doing in 2024
General Education - K to 12th grade. A Sequoyah education emphasizes active citizenship while reinforcing the skills for continuing scholarship. The school provides a rigorous college-preparatory K-12 curriculum in a collaborative and supportive environment. Sequoyah graduates are recognized for their initiative and leadership. Number of students serviced this fiscal period is 449.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Earned-program. 86% 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.
- 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: 54
- Transparency & Controls: 89
- Accountability: 90
- Sustainability: 63
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 54.1%; rating input score 54
- Program expense ratio: 66.5%; rating input score 67
- Fundraising efficiency: $3.07 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 11; 11th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 5 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 83
- Compensation committee: Pass
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
- Written employment contract: Pass
- Compensation survey or study: Pass
- 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; 66th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 6 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 75
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Fail
- Document-retention policy: Fail
- 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: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 15.6%; rating input score 77; 77th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.42; rating input score 68; 68th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.46; rating input score 31; 31st percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 9.3%; rating input score 23; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 10.4% per year; rating input score 100; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 11.4% per year; rating input score 100; 78th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 12.5% per year; rating input score 100; 74th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 54.1% of revenue deployed · 66.5% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 17 of 17 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $9.9M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $381K · 26 people listed · 5 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 1 contractor listed · $366K reported
- Consistency: 33 of 33 current checks pass
- Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
- Filing history: 11 filing years from 2014 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 7 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.
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.
- Review — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 54/100.
- High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 11/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 8 not reported.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 23/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 31/100.
- Review — Grant Readiness: California registration: this organization could not be resolved against the register, so the check is unfinished.