Valley Christian School
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 810381097
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2009–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Jul 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Missoula, MT, United States
- Phone
- 406-549-0482
- Rating
- 87
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Affiliation
- Christianity
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $3,123,303
- Expenses
- $2,869,956
- Assets
- $1,483,512
- Liabilities
- $276,177
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
9 people listed
Highest reported compensation
- BENJAMIN BRANDON (HEAD OF SCHOOL): $52,268 total reported compensation
- LYNNETTE SIMS (BUSINESS MANAGER/CFO): $51,043 total reported compensation
- HEALEY GLESSNER (HEAD OF SCHOOL (THRU JUNE 2024)): $41,625 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
With so many educational choices available to families, the answer is simple: because we put God first. Our faith and belief in Christian education drive everything we do. Our curriculum is based on the truths found in God’s Word; every effort is made to bring these truths into the classroom. All extracurricular classes are another opportunity to express and demonstrate Biblical principles. Our commitment to incorporating these principles drives us to raise the academic bar and provide opportunities for students to excel academically while learning about God, growing in their faith, and finding their God-given purpose.
What it reported doing in 2024
Early education, elementary and high school education from a christian value system. Approximately 345 students served.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Earned-program. 78% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The filing allocates 95% 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. Total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 86
- Transparency & Controls: 94
- Accountability: 90
- Sustainability: 45
- Growth: 80
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 86.2%; rating input score 86
- Program expense ratio: 93.6%; rating input score 94
- Fundraising efficiency: $26.22 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 66; 66th percentile among comparable filings
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: 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; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 6 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 75
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Other executive compensation review process: Pass
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Missing
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 8.1%; rating input score 59; 59th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.52; rating input score 18; 18th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.19; rating input score 46; 46th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 5.1%; rating input score 53; 53rd percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 6.1% per year; rating input score 100; 46th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 5.6% per year; rating input score 100; 46th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: -1.8% per year; rating input score 0; 8th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 1 operating location identified
- Where the money goes: 86.2% of revenue deployed · 93.6% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 6 of 6 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $2.7M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $52K · 9 people listed
- Consistency: 31 of 31 current checks pass
- Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
- Filing history: 16 filing years from 2009 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 3 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.
Key Signals
Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 18/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
- High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 59/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 46/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 53/100.