Center for Business Excellence Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
351850192
IRS 990 coverage
2018–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2017
Location
Elkhart, IN, USA
Phone
5742931531
Rating
84
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Nonprofit Management

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$148,333
Expenses
$166,225
Assets
$1,984,905
Liabilities
$1,919,908

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

Leadership & pay

6 people listed

Highest reported compensation

  • Levon D Johnson (Secretary): $129,001 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

The vision of the Center for Business Excellence is to make North Central Indiana a more vibrant economic region by helping businesses excel through continuous improvement and strong leadership.

What it reported doing in 2024

We assist for profit and not-for-profit businesses in transforming their cultures and results through training and implementing continuous improvement principles, lean tools and organizational skill building. The Center for Business Excellence hosts the Michiana LEAN Network, serving Elkhart, St. Joseph, Marshall, Lagrange and Kosciusko counties. In addition, the organization will offer more comprehensive lean enterprise training, including lean transformation design and implementation services, leadership and team building training, organizational design support, metrics tracking and score card development.

Operating model

Revenue model
Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 100% of reported program-service expenses outside its grant, affiliate-payment, and member-benefit lines. This expense classification does not rule out separately announced grant awards.

The verdict

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 87
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 74
  • Sustainability: 41
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 94%; rating input score 94
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 83.3%; rating input score 83; 22nd 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: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -12.1%; rating input score 20; 20th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 11.94; rating input score 91; 91st percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.97; rating input score 5; 5th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 3.8%; rating input score 34; 34th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 15% per year; rating input score 100; 79th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 2.2% per year; rating input score 100; 36th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 19.2% per year; rating input score 100; 83rd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 94% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 5 of 6 board members independent · 5 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $156K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $129K · 6 people listed
  • Consistency: 25 of 25 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 6 filing years from 2018 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Related organizations: 1 filed related-organization link
  • 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: 2 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 20/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 5/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 34/100.