Catholic Education Foundation
Legal name: Catholic Education Foundation Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 611294640
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2012–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Louisville, KY, United States
- Phone
- +1 (502) 585-2747
- Rating
- 79
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Scholarships, Student Financial Aid Services, Awards
- Affiliation
- Christianity
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $8,669,337
- Expenses
- $7,475,204
- Assets
- $54,597,734
- Liabilities
- $395,768
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
33 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- RICHARD A LECHLEITER (PRESIDENT)
- JULIE E BAUM (VICE PRESIDENT)
Highest reported compensation
- RICHARD A LECHLEITER (PRESIDENT): $352,264 total reported compensation
- JULIE E BAUM (VICE PRESIDENT): $259,097 total reported compensation
- GIL A WENTZEL (DIRECTOR OF FINANCE): $152,405 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Our Vision** is that every family has access to a Catholic education. Our Mission:** To promote the growth and vitality of Catholic education in the Archdiocese of Louisville. We support Catholic education through grants for:. We support Catholic education through grants for: Tuition assistance for families. We support Catholic education through grants for: Tuition assistance for families Technology enhancements for our parishes and schools.
What it reported doing in 2024
Grants were provided for tuition assistance to catholic school families, technology enhancements at parishes and schools, professional development of faculty and staff, and religious education programs.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 82% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- Distribution model
- Grant intermediary. The nonprofit sent 96% of its reported program spending out as grants.
- Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.
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 some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 67
- Transparency & Controls: 84
- Accountability: 90
- Sustainability: 71
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 70.1%; rating input score 70
- Program expense ratio: 75.5%; rating input score 76
- Fundraising efficiency: $6.06 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 22; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 94.1%; rating input score 94; 23rd 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: Pass
- Written employment contract: Missing
- Compensation survey or study: Pass
- Board or committee approval: Pass
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: 96.7%; rating input score 97; 32nd percentile among comparable filings
- 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: 6 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 75
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Fail
- CEO compensation review process: Pass
- Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 13.8%; rating input score 69; 69th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 7.3; rating input score 88; 88th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.01; rating input score 87; 87th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 15.1%; rating input score 19; 19th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 7.5% per year; rating input score 100; 53rd percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 8.8% per year; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 8.8% per year; rating input score 100; 54th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 1 operating location identified
- Where the money goes: 70.1% of revenue deployed · 75.5% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 27 of 27 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $5.6M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $352K · 33 people listed · 4 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Consistency: 37 of 38 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 9 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
- Filing history: 13 filing years from 2012 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 62 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 57 filed related-organization links
- 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.
- High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 22/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 8 not reported.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 19/100.
- Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.