True North Parent Partnership

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
822087874
IRS 990 coverage
2019–2022
Forms available
Form 990 2022, Form 990-EZ 2018
Location
The Woodlands, TX, USA
Phone
7133778681
Rating
79
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Educational Services and Schools - Other

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$392,816
Expenses
$377,278
Assets
$72,263
Liabilities
$0

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2022. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

8 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Lisa Palmer (Executive Director)
  • William Dicker (Vice President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Jayme Dicker (Director of Education): $39,591 total reported compensation
  • Lisa Palmer (Executive Director): $37,470 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2022. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

True North exists to parents, teaching excellence and providing enrichment opportunities in an affordable way, filling the financial gap between public and private schools for self-educating families.

What it reported doing in 2022

True North was successful in offering the following academic classes (Bible, English, Grammar, Science, History, and Math) as well as the following enrichment classes for nine months to provide a well-rounded, complete education to 80 students: Sign Language 1, Sign Language 2, Spanish 1, Spanish 2, Guitar, Keyboarding, Language of Music, Cheer 1, Cheer 2, Art 1, Art 2, Choir, Homework Help, Softball, All Sports 1, and All Sports 2.

Operating model

Revenue model
Other-operating. 100% of the money available for current operations came from other operating 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.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. A relatively small share of voting board members are independent and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 87
  • Transparency & Controls: 90
  • Accountability: 52
  • Sustainability: 38
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 96%; rating input score 96
  • Program expense ratio: 100%; rating input score 100
  • 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: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 57.1%; rating input score 57; 16th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 4 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 44
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Fail
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 4%; rating input score 50; 50th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.19; rating input score 10; 10th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 82; 82nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 20.4%; rating input score 19; 19th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 18.8% per year; rating input score 100; 83rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 18.6% per year; rating input score 100; 86th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 36.5% per year; rating input score 100; 93rd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 96% of revenue deployed · 100% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 4 of 7 board members independent · 4 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 5 filed program accomplishments · $377K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $40K · 8 people listed
  • Consistency: 38 of 38 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 4 filing years from 2019 to 2022
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 4 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.

  • Review — Accountability: Independent voting board scored 57/100.
  • Moderate — Accountability: Governance controls: 4 of 8 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 10/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 50/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 19/100.