Alpha Ministries Canada

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
981227060
IRS 990 coverage
2020–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-N 2020
Location
New Westminster, BC, CA
Rating
79
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Affiliation
Christianity

Reported finances

Revenue
$11,209,708
Expenses
$9,392,208
Assets
$6,886,032
Liabilities
$413,095

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

16 people listed

Highest reported compensation

  • Matthew Brent (Global Digital Design): $200,850 total reported compensation
  • Shaila Visser (National Director): $152,031 total reported compensation
  • Vincent Chan (Sr Digital Engineer): $140,595 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Facilitating the use of Alpha evangelistic courses by Canadian church and the partnership of further development of Alpha with Alpha International and Alpha USA

What it reported doing in 2025

Core ministry training church leadership development youth evangelizm training alpha course content and training

Operating model

Revenue model
Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
Distribution model
Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 79% for direct work, and 21% for grants.

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 the filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 75
  • Transparency & Controls: 83
  • Accountability: 85
  • Sustainability: 51
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 73.2%; rating input score 73
  • Program expense ratio: 87.1%; rating input score 87
  • Fundraising efficiency: $16.93 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 49; 49th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 4 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 67
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Pass
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: 5 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 62
    • Claims monitoring procedures: Pass
    • Requires narrative reports: Pass
    • Conducts field audits: Pass
    • May suspend future funding: Fail
    • Requires financial reports: Pass
    • Conducts site visits: Pass
    • Requires grant agreements: Fail
    • May require repayment: Fail
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 76th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 90%; rating input score 90; 19th 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: 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: 16.2%; rating input score 70; 70th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.73; rating input score 20; 20th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.06; rating input score 74; 74th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 9%; rating input score 30; 30th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 13.5% per year; rating input score 100; 78th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 15.1% per year; rating input score 100; 86th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 9.1% per year; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 73.2% of revenue deployed · 87.1% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 9 of 10 board members independent · 7 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $8.2M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $201K · 16 people listed · 4 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 1 contractor listed · $189K reported
  • Consistency: 46 of 46 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 6 filing years from 2020 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: Resolved incoming and outgoing counterparties from filed money flows.
  • 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.

Grant-readiness screening is separate from the live rating, not a measure of program quality. Review the source records before making a grant decision.

  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 49/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight: 3 of 8 not reported.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 9 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 20/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 30/100.
  • High — Grant Readiness: Automatic revocation: this organization had its federal tax-exempt status automatically revoked.