Whitfield School Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 430911366
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2019–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Saint Louis, MO, USA
- Phone
- 3144345141
- Rating
- 75
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $18,504,131
- Expenses
- $14,028,412
- Assets
- $38,137,674
- Liabilities
- $8,945,037
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
25 people listed
Highest reported compensation
- John C Cunningham (Head of School): $317,112 total reported compensation
- Robert Kampen (Director of Finance and Operations): $139,728 total reported compensation
- Kathleen Kelly (Director of Development): $138,645 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
A small school community committed to kindness and trust, Whitfield inspires a diverse student body to lead lives of curiosity, integrity, and purpose.
What it reported doing in 2024
Instruction - Whitfield School is an independent, coeducational, college-preparatory day school for students in grades 6-12. Located on a 25-acre campus in west St. Louis County, Whitfield's demanding academic program coupled with the support of a dedicated, world-class faculty prepares graduates for both the college experience and life beyond. With an average class size of 14, Whitfield is able to develop and maintain a community of families who value mutual respect and personal responsibility. At the center of Whitfield's mission is the commitment to character education through the Habits of Mind and Heart curriculum. The habits address six areas of human potential: ethics, scholarship, citizenship, leadership, mindfulness, and cultural competence. For the 2024-2025 school year, 413 students were enrolled.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
- 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.
- 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. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 69
- Transparency & Controls: 70
- Accountability: 91
- Sustainability: 72
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 66.5%; rating input score 66
- Program expense ratio: 86%; rating input score 86
- Fundraising efficiency: $8.65 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 34; 34th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 1 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 17
- Compensation committee: Pass
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
- Written employment contract: Missing
- Compensation survey or study: Missing
- Board or committee approval: Missing
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: Limited
- 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: 7 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 78
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Fail
- CEO compensation review process: Pass
- Other executive compensation review process: Fail
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 24.2%; rating input score 85; 85th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.72; rating input score 72; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.23; rating input score 54; 54th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 6.8%; rating input score 37; 37th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 2.9% per year; rating input score 100; 25th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 8.4% per year; rating input score 100; 67th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 5.2% per year; rating input score 100; 37th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 66.5% of revenue deployed · 86% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 20 of 20 board members independent · 7 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $12.1M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $317K · 25 people listed · 1 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $1.7M reported
- Consistency: 48 of 48 current checks pass
- Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
- Filing history: 5 filing years from 2019 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 6 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.
- Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 34/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 9 not reported.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 37/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 54/100.