Is it real?
Yes. Never revoked by the IRS. Latest filing on record: FY2025. IRS ruling in Apr 2009.
IRS Pub. 78 · IRS Auto-Revocation List · IRS Business Master File
Where the money goes
96 cents of each dollar spent went to programs.
Form 990 Part IX, line 25, columns B–D. Every line is in By the numbers.
Something off? Claim to add context
Who runs it and what they're paid
8 people listed on the 990; $231K paid to officers and key staff (Part VII, Section A).
Lynn Peterson’s $122K as Ex-Officio/Executive Director is at the 7th percentile of top reported officer pay among 3680 $10–100M education nonprofits. Peer set: organizations in the same NTEE major field of work and revenue-size band, compared on each org’s own highest-paid officer/key-employee, from Form 990 Part VII / 990-PF Part VIII. Descriptive placement, not a verdict on whether the pay is appropriate.
Compensation history total reportable pay by year · 6 named individuals · Part VII
| Name | FY2025 | FY2024 | FY2023 | FY2022 | FY2021 | FY2020 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lynn Peterson | $122,292 | $137,500 | $153,810 | $150,241 | $135,206 | $120,996 |
| Melissa Mase | — | — | — | $90,371 | — | — |
| Helen Suhr | $71,205 | — | — | — | — | — |
| Traci Laferriere | $63,704 | $69,641 | $70,822 | $60,730 | $56,541 | $54,718 |
| Laura Oman | — | $66,798 | $65,905 | $58,153 | $57,241 | $55,444 |
| Katie Rotz | — | — | — | $60,033 | — | — |
Total reportable compensation (Form 990 Part VII column D / Schedule J column E) by filing year, matched by name within this organization, with a nickname or small spelling change read as the same person. The Schedule J base / bonus / deferred breakdown is not parsed into this dataset.
See Cologne Academy executive salaries →3 open jobs right now. See them →
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Questions the 990 asks
The form asks each of these directly. These are the filed answers.
- Family or business ties among officersPt VI · Ln 2No
- Top official's pay set by an independent reviewPt VI · Ln 15aYes
Updates and questions
Develops rich character and effective learning for academic student achievement.
Our summary of the filed mission and programs (Form 990 Part III, line 4), not the words of the organization.
Questions for Cologne Academy
Your first name shows with your question. Nobody from Cologne Academy has claimed this page yet, so no one there sees or answers questions until they do.
Funders
Who pays for it.
From grant filings on record. Receipts are incomplete: individual donors are never listed.
Grants
Dated by each funder’s own filing year, which may not match this organization’s fiscal year.
Federal money
Plus 5 smaller programs.
The auditor reported 8 findings: a material weakness in money controls, questioned costs.
About 8% of its revenue in the year ending Jun 2022 was federal money it spent ($895K of $10.8M).
Awards signed straight to it, by federal fiscal year (Oct to Sep), the last 5 years with money and the top agencies. An award is money promised, not money spent: one award can pay out over several years, so these do not add up to the money spent above. Money that came through a state or another group is not counted here. Last pulled from USAspending Nov 12, 2026.
By the numbers
The FY2020 990, line by line.
Download 990
| Line | Start FY20 | End FY20 |
|---|---|---|
| Cash and savingsLn 1–2 | $2.2M | $2.4M |
| Land, buildings, equipmentLn 10c | $124K | $129K |
| Total assetsLn 16 | $9.6M | $7.7M |
| LiabilitiesLn 26 | $11.4M | $10.2M |
| Net assetsLn 32 | −$1.8M | −$2.4M |
| Line | Total | Programs | Management | Fundraising |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grants to domestic individualsLn 2 | $8K | $8K | ||
| Pay of officers and key staff (Part IX, line 5)Ln 5 | $283K | $283K | ||
| Pay of disqualified personsLn 6 | $106K | $106K | ||
| Other salaries and wagesLn 7 | $4.2M | $4.0M | $188K | |
| Pension plan contributionsLn 8 | $259K | $245K | $15K | |
| Other employee benefitsLn 9 | $282K | $279K | $3K | |
| Payroll taxesLn 10 | $344K | $330K | $14K | |
| Legal feesLn 11b | $2K | $2K | ||
| Accounting feesLn 11c | $13K | $13K | ||
| Other fees for servicesLn 11g | $595K | $530K | $65K | |
| Office expensesLn 13 | $348K | $340K | $8K | |
| OccupancyLn 16 | $1.1M | $1.1M | $466 | |
| TravelLn 17 | $921K | $921K | ||
| Conferences, conventions and meetingsLn 19 | $25K | $25K | ||
| Depreciation, depletion and amortizationLn 22 | $45K | $44K | $405 | |
| InsuranceLn 23 | $17K | $17K | ||
| Other expenses (24a–d)Ln 24 | $53K | $37K | $16K | |
| All other expensesLn 24e | $1 | $1 | ||
| Total functional expensesLn 25 | $8.5M | $8.2M | $325K | $0 |
Part VII lists each person's pay for the calendar year, including pay from related organizations and from people who have left; Part IX, line 5 is this organization's own cost for its current officers and key staff over its fiscal year.
The full sourced Quadrant report on Cologne Academy
Everything above stays free. The full report adds:
- One sourced report, every figure cited to its 990 line
- Revenue quality
- Compliance checks run against 4 federal lists
- Red flags with the evaluator crosswalk
- Peer measures
$150 one time, for this organization
Buy this report See a full sample reportFiling history
| Year | Money in | Money out | In minus out | Net assets | Download |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY2025 LatestFiled with the IRS May 18, 2026 | $11.9M | $11.5M | $418K | $1.4M | 990 PDF |
| FY2024Filed with the IRS Mar 21, 2025 | $11.1M | $10.7M | $337K | $979K | 990 PDF |
| FY2023Filed with the IRS Apr 24, 2024 | $10.6M | $10.3M | $210K | $364K | 990 PDF |
| FY2022Filed with the IRS May 16, 2023 | $10.8M | $10.0M | $757K | −$949K | 990 PDF |
| FY2021Filed with the IRS May 9, 2022 | $9.8M | $8.7M | $1.1M | −$1.8M | 990 PDF |
| FY2020 ViewingFiled with the IRS Apr 15, 2021 | $8.7M | $8.5M | $132K | −$2.4M | 990 PDF |
Schedules filed Part IV
See the full FY2020 990
Parts IV and V and the Schedule O notes are not shown yet: we do not hold this return's e-file. The Parts below come from the IRS data we do hold, and the full 990 PDF has every Part.
Part I · Summary $8,661,190 revenue, 12 lines filed
Part III · Program service accomplishments 1 program, $8,204,006 spent
Part VI · Governance 4 of 5 board members independent, no flags
Part VII · Officers, directors and key employees 8 people listed, 3 paid by the organization
Part VIII · Statement of revenue $8,661,190 across 8 lines filed
Part IX · Statement of functional expenses $8,528,834 across 18 lines filed
Part X · Balance sheet $7,734,278 assets, 15 lines filed
Part XI · Reconciliation of net assets −$2,443,632 net assets at year end
Form 990 e-file FY2020 from the IRS (about our sources) · Classification, formation year and address from the IRS Business Master File
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