The Seven Hills School
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 310536666
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2010–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024
- Location
- Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
- Phone
- 513.728.2400
- Rating
- 86
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Secondary, High School
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $46,711,991
- Expenses
- $38,743,627
- Assets
- $135,114,394
- Liabilities
- $5,593,780
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
40 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- LAIR KENNEDY (CHAIR AND PRESIDENT)
Highest reported compensation
- CHRISTOPHER P GARTEN (FORMER HEAD OF SCHOOL): $828,670 total reported compensation
- MATTHEW BOLTON (HEAD OF SCHOOL): $292,458 total reported compensation
- WILLIAM WASKOWITZ (FORMER HEAD OF MIDDLE SCHOOL): $275,113 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 Seven Hills School is a private, coeducational, college-preparatory day school for students from age 2 through grade 12. The school's mission is to inspire students to become lifelong learners, critical thinkers, and responsible citizens who contribute to a diverse and changing world.
What it reported doing in 2024
Auxiliary services - bookstore, transportation, food service, daycare and summer school
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Earned-program. 68% 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
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 reported officer compensation is a large share of total spending, which may reflect staffing concentration.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 72
- Transparency & Controls: 95
- Accountability: 100
- Sustainability: 74
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 69.4%; rating input score 69
- Program expense ratio: 85.4%; rating input score 85
- Fundraising efficiency: $13.64 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 47; 47th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 6 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 100
- Compensation committee: Pass
- Independent consultant: Pass
- 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: 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: 8 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 100
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- 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: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 17.1%; rating input score 79; 79th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 3.49; rating input score 79; 79th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.04; rating input score 85; 85th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 7.4%; rating input score 34; 34th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 4.8% per year; rating input score 100; 41st percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 3.5% per year; rating input score 100; 30th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 5.4% per year; rating input score 100; 38th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 2 operating locations identified
- Where the money goes: 69.4% of revenue deployed · 85.4% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 28 of 28 board members independent · 8 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $33.1M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $829K · 40 people listed · 6 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 3 contractors listed · $923K reported
- Consistency: 34 of 34 current checks pass
- Schedules: 9 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
- Filing history: 15 filing years from 2010 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 12 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.
- Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 47/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 34/100.