Western Reserve Academy

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
340714390
IRS 990 coverage
2009–2024
Official website data refreshed
Sep 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024
Location
Hudson, OH, US
Phone
330-650-4400
Rating
75
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Secondary, High School

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$47,603,115
Expenses
$41,169,666
Assets
$231,853,556
Liabilities
$22,029,046

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

Leadership & pay

40 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • STEPHAN W COLE (VICE PRESIDENT)
  • MARTIN D FRANKS (CO-PRESIDENT)
  • NATHANIEL E LEONARD (CO-PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • SUZANNE E BUCK (HEAD OF SCHOOL): $692,677 total reported compensation
  • THOMAS P ARNOLD (CHIEF FIN.&OP.OFFICER): $389,223 total reported compensation
  • MARK L LAFONTAINE (ASST.HEAD OF SCHOOL FOR ADV.): $342,858 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 prepare students to blaze trails in learning and in life.

What it reported doing in 2024

The academy is a secondary co-educational school with approximately 428 students. Our faculty cultivates intellectual curiosity through a challenging college preparatory program; our students pursue a rigorous liberal arts curriculum and engage in opportunities beyond the classroom in arts, athletics, and service, ensuring growth in mind, body, and spirit. The academy's close-knit community instills individual and social responsibility, while preparing students as citizens and leaders in an increasingly interconnected world.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 70% 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 72% for direct work, and 28% for grants.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. The filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 71
  • Transparency & Controls: 67
  • Accountability: 90
  • Sustainability: 72
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 77.1%; rating input score 77
  • Program expense ratio: 80.3%; rating input score 80
  • Fundraising efficiency: $3.29 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 13; 13th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 2 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 33
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • 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: Scored; rating input score 0
  • 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; 66th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 6 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 75
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • 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: 13.5%; rating input score 74; 74th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 5.63; rating input score 86; 86th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.1; rating input score 74; 74th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 7.7%; rating input score 31; 31st percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 3.6% per year; rating input score 100; 31st percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 5% per year; rating input score 100; 43rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 2.7% per year; rating input score 100; 21st percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 3 operating locations identified
  • Where the money goes: 77.1% of revenue deployed · 80.3% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 28 of 28 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $33.1M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $693K · 40 people listed · 2 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $4.5M reported
  • Consistency: 39 of 40 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 12 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 16 filing years from 2009 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 12 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.

  • High — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight scored 0/100.
  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 13/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 8 not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 31/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.