Trillium Charter School
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 331146470
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2015–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Arcata, CA, USA
- Phone
- 7078224721
- Rating
- 69
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Kindergarten, Preschool, Nursery School, Early Admissions
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $843,080
- Expenses
- $899,764
- Assets
- $494,459
- Liabilities
- $240,234
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
6 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- BOBBI BACKMAN (Vice President)
- CASEY CRABB (President)
Highest reported compensation
- MARIANNE KELLER (Executive Dir.): $80,446 total reported compensation
- SUSAN KELLY (Treasurer): $78,160 total reported compensation
- BOBBI BACKMAN (Vice President): $20,345 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
To operate a California public charter school
What it reported doing in 2024
Elementary education services
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Grant-funded. 96% of the money available for current operations came from government grants.
- 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.
The verdict
SUPPORTED - The filed numbers largely add up and a large share of available resources goes toward mission work. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and expenses are high relative to revenue.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 61
- Transparency & Controls: 92
- Accountability: 53
- Sustainability: 21
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 70.2%; rating input score 70
- Program expense ratio: 65.2%; rating input score 65
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
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: Limited
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 60%; rating input score 60; 12th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 4 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 44
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
- Whistleblower policy: Fail
- 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: Fail
- Audit committee oversight: Fail
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -6.7%; rating input score 21; 21st percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.55; rating input score 26; 26th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.49; rating input score 16; 16th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 19.9%; rating input score 15; 15th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 6.4% per year; rating input score 100; 49th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 8.8% per year; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 12.6% per year; rating input score 100; 66th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 70.2% of revenue deployed · 65.2% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 3 of 5 board members independent · 4 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $587K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $80K · 6 people listed
- Consistency: 32 of 32 current checks pass
- Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 10 filing years from 2015 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 3 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.
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.
- Moderate — Accountability: Governance controls: 5 of 9 not reported.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 21/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 26/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 15/100.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 16/100.
- Review — Grant Readiness: California registration: this organization could not be resolved against the register, so the check is unfinished.