Blue Water Christian Life Association Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
382999413
IRS 990 coverage
2009–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Kimball, MI, USA
Phone
8103673770
Rating
66
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Affiliation
Christianity

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$1,222,368
Expenses
$1,199,814
Assets
$1,023,341
Liabilities
$255,970

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

9 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Sarah Ingles (President)
  • Rhyan Adamson (Vice President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Monica Nelson (Administrator): $38,130 total reported compensation
  • Lee Ann Shimmel (Former Administrator): $23,228 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

New Life Christian Academy NLCA provides a Christ centered education and challenges each NLCA student to reach high academic, personal and spiritual standards.

What it reported doing in 2024

Conduct a comprehensive K - 12 education program operating a full time elementary and secondary school accomodating approximately 209 students on a daily basis. Activities include regular classroom instruction, organized sports, a cafeteria Art, Music, Field Trips, etc. A Hardy Scholarship program provides grants for tuition assistance - 4 students received such scholarships during the tax year for a total of 8,700. A student cafeteria is operated for convenience of students and faculty

Operating model

Revenue model
Other-operating. 89% of the money available for current operations came from other operating revenue.
Distribution model
Cannot be determined from the filing. The filing does not provide enough consistent spending detail to tell whether the nonprofit works directly or through others.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - The filed numbers largely add up and most voting board members are independent. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 56
  • Transparency & Controls: 65
  • Accountability: 84
  • Sustainability: 40
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 62.4%; rating input score 62
  • Program expense ratio: 63.5%; rating input score 64
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 91.7%; rating input score 92; 12th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 1 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 17
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • 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; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 5 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 62
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Fail
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 1.8%; rating input score 42; 42nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.85; rating input score 38; 38th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.25; rating input score 28; 28th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 5.1%; rating input score 53; 53rd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 2.6% per year; rating input score 100; 29th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 2.6% per year; rating input score 100; 28th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 2.5% per year; rating input score 100; 27th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 62.4% of revenue deployed · 63.5% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 8 of 8 board members independent · 5 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $762K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $38K · 9 people listed · 1 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 16 of 18 current checks pass · 2 findings to review
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 16 filing years from 2009 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
  • 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.

  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 8 not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 42/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Functional expense sum did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Part IX OtherSalariesAndWages column sum did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 38/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 28/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 53/100.