Vanguard School of Lake Wales Florida Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 592298398
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2010–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Lake Wales, FL, USA
- Phone
- 8636766091
- Rating
- 83
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Elementary, Secondary Education, K - 12
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $6,249,136
- Expenses
- $6,183,474
- Assets
- $8,067,222
- Liabilities
- $1,374,771
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
16 people listed
Highest reported compensation
- LU SHANNON GRAVES (HEAD OF SCHOOL): $280,236 total reported compensation
- TIMOTHY KNAVEL (CFO/DIRECTOR OF HR): $96,823 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 vanguard school is an independent, co-educational, boarding and day school for students who learn differently. Vanguard strives to ensure each student aspires to higher educational opportunities and independent life.
What it reported doing in 2024
Vanguard opened its doors on february 1, 1966, in lake wales, Florida, to a class of six students. Vanguard has grown into an internationally recognized and fully accredited institution with a maximum enrollment of 140 students in grades 6-12. We started with just one building, and have grown to a 77-acre campus with four dorms, three school buildings, a media center/library, cafeteria, gym, fitness center, performing arts center and much more. Since 1966, the vanguard school has specialized in educating students with a variety of learning differences, in an environment that acknowledges their differences, celebrates their strengths and supports them in overcoming their challenges. We understand that each child learns differently and we provide an individualized educational environment for students to learn.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Earned-program. 86% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
- Distribution model
- Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 66% for direct work, and 34% for grants.
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: 80
- Transparency & Controls: 83
- Accountability: 100
- Sustainability: 42
- Growth: 80
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 89.2%; rating input score 89
- Program expense ratio: 79.8%; rating input score 80
- Fundraising efficiency: $9.08 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 34; 34th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd 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: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 8 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 100
- 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: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 1.1%; rating input score 38; 38th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.3; rating input score 46; 46th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.17; rating input score 48; 48th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 6.1%; rating input score 46; 46th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 1.2% per year; rating input score 100; 18th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 0.6% per year; rating input score 100; 14th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: -2.7% per year; rating input score 0; 6th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 89.2% of revenue deployed · 79.8% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 12 of 12 board members independent · 8 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $4.9M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $280K · 16 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 1 contractor listed · $467K reported
- Consistency: 36 of 36 current checks pass
- Schedules: 9 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
- Filing history: 15 filing years from 2010 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 1 filed related-organization link
- 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.
- Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 34/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 38/100.
- High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 46/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 46/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 48/100.