Is it real?
Yes. Never revoked by the IRS. Latest filing on record: FY2025. IRS ruling in Feb 2024.
IRS Pub. 78 · IRS Auto-Revocation List · IRS Business Master File
Where the money goes
91 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
6 people listed on the 990; $53K paid to officers and key staff.
Mel Christensen Fletcher’s $84K as Executive Di is at the 74th percentile of top reported officer pay among 1613 $100K–1M 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 · 2 named individuals · Part VII
| Name | FY2025 | FY2024 |
|---|---|---|
| Mel Christensen Fletcher | $83,828 | — |
| Megan Phillips | $55,884 | $52,692 |
Total reportable compensation (Form 990 Part VII column D / Schedule J column E) by filing year, matched by name within this organization. The Schedule J base / bonus / deferred breakdown is not parsed into this dataset.
See Brightfield School executive salaries →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 15aNo
Programs and updates
Inspires joy and learning through nature and community engagement, fostering stewardship and compassion.
Questions for Brightfield School
Your first name shows with your question. Brightfield School answers here, for everyone.
Brightfield school, located in bath, me, in year one, serves 25 students in the greater "mid-coast" maine region from grades 1 - 7. Brightfield offers a place-based curriculum which educates the whole child through an immersive interdisciplinary commitment that challenges critical thinking and encourages curiosity beyond classroom…
Funders
Who pays for it.
From grant filings on record. Receipts are incomplete: individual donors are never listed.
Grants
By the numbers
The FY2024 990, line by line.
Download 990
| Line | Start FY24 | End FY24 |
|---|---|---|
| Cash and savingsLn 1–2 | $24K | |
| Land, buildings, equipmentLn 10c | $39K | |
| Total assetsLn 16 | $0 | $63K |
| LiabilitiesLn 26 | $0 | $23K |
| Net assetsLn 32 | $0 | $41K |
| Line | Total | Programs | Management | Fundraising |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pay of current officers, directors and key staffLn 5 | $53K | $53K | ||
| Other salaries and wagesLn 7 | $231K | $208K | $23K | |
| Pension plan contributionsLn 8 | $5K | $4K | $458 | |
| Other employee benefitsLn 9 | $73K | $66K | $7K | |
| Payroll taxesLn 10 | $26K | $24K | $3K | |
| Legal feesLn 11b | $949 | $237 | $712 | |
| Accounting feesLn 11c | $2K | $405 | $1K | |
| Advertising and promotionLn 12 | $2K | $2K | ||
| Office expensesLn 13 | $17K | $11K | $6K | |
| OccupancyLn 16 | $14K | $13K | $1K | |
| Conferences, conventions and meetingsLn 19 | $1K | $993 | $331 | |
| InterestLn 20 | $2K | $2K | ||
| Depreciation, depletion and amortizationLn 22 | $7K | $7K | ||
| InsuranceLn 23 | $9K | $7K | $2K | |
| Other expenses (24a–d)Ln 24 | $51K | $50K | $1K | |
| All other expensesLn 24e | $3K | $3K | ||
| Total functional expensesLn 25 | $496K | $449K | $46K | $0 |
Filing history
| Year | Money in | Money out | In minus out | Net assets | Download |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY2025 LatestFiled with the IRS May 15, 2026 | $545K | $584K | −$39K | $2K | 990 PDF |
| FY2024 ViewingFiled with the IRS May 15, 2025 | $536K | $496K | $41K | $41K | 990 PDF |
Schedules filed Part IV
See the full FY2024 990 (6 parts)
Part I · Summary $536,115 revenue, 12 lines filed
Part VI · Governance 4 of 4 board members independent, 4 to look at
Part VIII · Statement of revenue $536,115 across 4 lines filed
Part IX · Statement of functional expenses $495,506 across 16 lines filed
Part X · Balance sheet $63,343 assets, 9 lines filed
Part XI · Reconciliation of net assets $40,609 net assets at year end
Form 990 e-file (XML) FY2024 from the IRS · Classification, formation year and address from the IRS Business Master File
Similar organizations you could support · Compare with another nonprofit
Names, privacy, and removal requests More
The names, titles, and compensation shown on this page are reproduced from IRS Form 990 filings, which are public records.
Philanthropy.org does not alter the content of those filings. All information appears exactly as reported by the filing organization for the tax year shown.
We publish only information contained in the public IRS filing — and less than the filing contains. Our profile pages do not display street addresses, telephone numbers, personal email addresses, or other personal contact information, even where the filing includes them.
Many people share the same name. A name shown on this page reflects only what one organization reported in one IRS filing for one tax year. It should not be interpreted as identifying any other individual with the same or a similar name.
If you are no longer affiliated with the organization, your name will generally stop appearing in future IRS filings once the organization no longer reports you. Pages for tax years in which you were reported remain published because those filings remain part of the public record.
Philanthropy.org does not alter or remove IRS filing records. Removing a page from this website would not remove the underlying IRS filing, which remains publicly available from the IRS and other publishers of the same information.
If you believe the IRS filing itself is inaccurate, corrections must be made by the filing organization or the IRS directly.