Thrive Scholars

What it reported doing in 2024

Thrive scholars has achieved tremendous results in supporting scholars to enroll in top colleges, earn great grades, and graduate career-ready. Our results within the last two years show that 89% of thrive scholars are attending a top college, 39% are going to an ivy league+ school (defined as the ivy league plus stanford, mit, the university of chicago, and duke), and 99% graduated from college within six years. Our scholars have an average gpa of 3.5 upon college graduation; 87% of stem scholars persisted and graduated with a stem degree, and our first-year college scholars finished their freshman year with an average gpa of 3.4. Our scholars are outperforming the general population at top colleges, not just similar high-achieving, economically disadvantaged, first generation students of color. Thrive scholars are 10% more likely to graduate from college than students at these highly ranked colleges, they are also 18% more likely to pursue a stem major and 55% more likely to persist in that stem major than students at highly ranked colleges. Of our recently graduated cohorts, 77% of scholars did so with a meaningful first-destination career placement and those in full-time salaried positions make 1.9x the income of their family background (over $73,000). We attribute this success largely to our signature summer academy, a robust 6-week academic program designed to demystify the college experience and expose first-generation students to the rigors of college, as well as our one-on-one college admissions counseling, coaching through the first year of college transition, and industry-specific career coaching in their final years of college. Since its inception, results have been overwhelming: our scholars' gpas increased from 2.9 to 3.45 stem persistence rose from 20% to 87%, and 6-year graduation rates increased from 90% to 99%.

Financial Efficiency

• Mission deployment rate: 86.9%; rating input score 87
• Program expense ratio: 78.3%; rating input score 78
• Fundraising efficiency: $7.14 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 29; 29th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

• Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
• Pay-setting controls: 4 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 67
  • Compensation committee: Pass
  • Independent consultant: Pass
  • 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: 8 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 89
  • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
  • Whistleblower policy: Pass
  • Document-retention policy: Fail
  • 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: -11%; rating input score 9; 9th percentile among comparable filings
• Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.32; rating input score 8; 8th percentile among comparable filings
• Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.32; rating input score 44; 44th percentile among comparable filings
• Officer compensation ratio: 15%; rating input score 8; 8th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

• Program expense growth: 21.5% per year; rating input score 100; 91st percentile among comparable filings
• Revenue growth: 15.4% per year; rating input score 100; 87th percentile among comparable filings
• Asset growth: 10.6% per year; rating input score 100; 67th percentile among comparable filings