Trailblazers School of North Georgia
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 882241895
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2023–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Buford, GA, USA
- Phone
- 4702388083
- Rating
- 83
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Elementary, Secondary Education, K - 12
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $249,625
- Expenses
- $244,819
- Assets
- $14,557
- Liabilities
- $5,106
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
5 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Sarah Bridges (CEO)
People named in this filing
- Sarah Bridges (CEO)
- Ashley Preyer (CFO School Director)
- Ashleigh Croft (Secretary School Director)
Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Our mission is to cultivate a joyful, inclusive learning environment rooted in nature, where children explore, create, and connect as they build skills to contribute to a better future for all.
What it reported doing in 2024
Academic school for children utilizing outdoor, multi-age classrooms and inquiry-based curriculum
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
STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 85
- Transparency & Controls: 90
- Accountability: 76
- Sustainability: 32
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 93.1%; rating input score 93
- Program expense ratio: 94.9%; rating input score 95
- Fundraising efficiency: $3.81 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 17; 17th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: Limited
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: Limited
- Major donor itemization: Limited
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 3 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 43
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Fail
- Document-retention policy: Fail
- CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Missing
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 1.9%; rating input score 44; 44th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.06; rating input score 4; 4th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.35; rating input score 14; 14th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 69; 69th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 14.8% per year; rating input score 100; 78th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 18.3% per year; rating input score 100; 86th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 53% per year; rating input score 100; 97th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 93.1% of revenue deployed · 94.9% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 5 of 5 board members independent · 3 of 7 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $232K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 5 people listed
- Consistency: 20 of 20 current checks pass
- Schedules: 4 filed schedules
- Filing history: 2 filing years from 2023 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- 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.
- Moderate — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 6 not reported.
- High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 17/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 4/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 44/100.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 14/100.