Urban School of San Francisco

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
941622034
IRS 990 coverage
2009–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
San Francisco, CA, USA
Phone
4156262919
Rating
82
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Secondary, High School

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$31,578,584
Expenses
$30,941,210
Assets
$138,391,033
Liabilities
$73,450,674

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

36 people listed

Highest reported compensation

  • DAN MILLER (HEAD OF SCHOOL): $725,920 total reported compensation
  • DIANE WALTERS (CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER): $366,004 total reported compensation
  • ANNA LEE (DIRECTOR OF DEVELOPMENT): $289,398 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 urban school of san francisco seeks to ignite a passion for learning, inspiring its students to become self-motivated, enthusiastic participants in their education - both in high school and beyond.

What it reported doing in 2024

Founded in 1966, urban offers a demanding college preparatory program in the arts, english, history, languages, sciences and mathematics. Incoming students are issued state of the art laptop computers for school and home use to help fully integrate technology into the curriculum. The school fields interscholastic teams in many sports and provides numerous extracurricular opportunities for student leaders, writers and performers. Through fieldwork, community service and internships, students explore and contribute to our own haight-ashbury neighborhood, as well as to the larger community. Urban has a faculty of 58 full and part time teachers and 424 students in grades 9 through 12. The teacher student ratio is 1:10. (continued on schedule o)the urban school of san francisco is accredited by the western association of schools and colleges (wasc) and is a member of the national association of independent schools (nais), the California association of independent schools (cais), the council for the advancement and support of education (case), and the secondary school admission test board. Urban is also a member of a better chance (abc), the bay counties league (bcl). The urban school of san francisco admits students without reference to race, color, sex, religion, sexual orientation, national or ethnic origin to all the rights privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the school. It does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, sex, religion, sexual orientation, national or ethnic origin in administration of its educational policies, financial assistance program, athletic or school administered programs.

Operating model

Revenue model
Other-operating. 87% of the money available for current operations came from other operating 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 expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 78
  • Transparency & Controls: 83
  • Accountability: 93
  • Sustainability: 50
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 86.8%; rating input score 87
  • Program expense ratio: 88%; rating input score 88
  • Fundraising efficiency: $2.19 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 7; 7th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • 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: 96.2%; rating input score 96; 30th 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: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: Pass
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 2%; rating input score 42; 42nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 4.47; rating input score 83; 83rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.53; rating input score 27; 27th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 9.2%; rating input score 24; 24th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 6.4% per year; rating input score 100; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 5.5% per year; rating input score 100; 48th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 9.7% per year; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 86.8% of revenue deployed · 88% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 25 of 26 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $27.2M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $726K · 36 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $18.7M reported
  • Consistency: 38 of 38 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 12 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 16 filing years from 2009 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 10 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
  • 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.

  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 7/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 42/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Form 990 shared with the board not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 24/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 27/100.