Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Any Feynman parents adept at analyzing tax returns?
The Form 990 for fiscal year ending in 6/22 notes the number of financial aid grant given (53) for a total of $473,160 (p. 30) and also identifies a (relatively small) loan to the founders on p. 31. Query whether anyone can figure out enough of the financial situation so parents can decide what steps to take next.
Not a Feynman parent, but a nonprofit consultant who has spent many years working with independent schools. The loan is weird, IMO.
Very weird. I've never seen something like that. And looking back at older 990s, it just gets weirder. Possibly multiple $24,500 loans, but it's hard to say for sure. Definitely a super weird one in FY15, where the Golds made a loan to the school but then the school loaned them money.
Nothing about the financial aid amount strikes me as unusual. The average amount of aid actually decreased a but from FY22 to FY23. There was a significant decrease in the amount of aid awarded from FY21 to FY22.
They raised very little money. FY22 and FY23 saw significant government grants ($400k+), but otherwise, fundraising was nearly nonexistent. I don't know any independent school that can survive without halfway decent fundraising. Though the lack of fundraising doesn't surprise me given that they spent virtually nothing on it. The biggest fundraising expense each year is occupancy, and frankly I'm rolling my eyes at that. You shouldn't be able to charge 5% of your occupancy costs to something you otherwise only allocated $360 out of $2.2 million in expenses. I wonder what all that government money is. Maybe private school vouchers paid directly to the school? (I'll admit, I'm not super familiar with Maryland's program, since I work primarily with schools and nonprofits in the Carolinas)
To me, the biggest red flag is the fact that 2 of the 5 Board members are not only employed by the school. but are married to each other. The second biggest is there's nearly zero turnover of Board members. That's a recipe for not exercising effective oversight--and given the sudden closing of the school and apparent financial mismanagement, that's exactly what happened here. I don't see the names of Board members posted anywhere on the website, nor do I see Robert Gold's name anywhere, despite being the Executive Director and pulling in a substantial salary. It appears the books were never audited by an outside accountant. That's terrifying to me. There's a serious lack of basic transparency.
If Feynman School came to me as a prospective client, I would run the other direction.
The 990s are waving more red flags than a Chinese embassy.
As to what steps parents should take next, I can't say. I'm not a lawyer or a tax expert. I would be demanding answers, though. Demand the articles of incorporation--they should spell out what is supposed to happen when a nonprofit ceases operations, including what to do with assets. Demand Board meeting minutes--although typically organizations can keep these private, given the significant amount of government grants that last two years they may have to make these available, check Maryland law. Demand answers about those loans, ask why the 990s are so inconsistent (ex: 2021 990 Part VII Compensation of Officers, Directors, Trustees, Key Employees, Highest Compensated Employees, and Independent Contractors shows $195,913, yet Part IX Functional Expenses lists Compensation of current officers, directors, trustees, and key employees as $176,984. Those should match!)