Center of Life

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
010617023
IRS 990 coverage
2011–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Pittsburgh, PA, USA
Phone
4125213468
Rating
69
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Family Services

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$3,370,356
Expenses
$3,129,523
Assets
$3,409,900
Liabilities
$246,398

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

Leadership & pay

16 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • REV TIMOTHY L SMITH (PRESIDENT/EXECUTIVE DIRECT)

Highest reported compensation

  • REV TIMOTHY L SMITH (PRESIDENT/EXECUTIVE DIRECT): $190,888 total reported compensation
  • PATRICK OHRMAN (DIRECTOR OF DEVELOPMENT): $113,805 total reported compensation
  • JEFFREY AU (CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER (TO AUG 25)): $68,330 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Center of life (col) is a faith-based community empowerment organization that serves to strengthen families, children and youth in the greater hazelwood community and other underserved neighborhoods throughout the pittsburgh area. Our mission is to provide families with the life-skills, education, training, and resources necessary to thrive and make their communities strong. For twenty years center of life has provided programs and services in music and arts, education, athletics, family engagement, and community partnerships.

What it reported doing in 2025

Community empowerment. Col is committed to the kind of community empowerment that ultimately strengthens families in greater hazelwood and other underserved communities. This commitment leads to advocacy with community partners (such as the greater hazelwood community collaborative), as well as access to fundingand resources. Through various partnerships, col exposes families and youth to opportunities that affect their careers, education, finances, and ability to own a home. Center of life hosts three programs through its community empowerment efforts as follows: col's family and community engagement program was created with the goal ofproviding parents and caregivers with the tools, knowledge, and strategies needed to move from a state of merely surviving to thriving. Activities of the family and community engagement program assist families in every aspectof their lives to improve their personal well-being, and range anywhere from organizing a food pantry, performing regular wellness checks organizing weekly parent meetings, providing families with information about vital resources and referrals and more. By tending to the individual needs of the parents we serve, we can be sure that we are impacting the success and the wellbeing of the entire family unit. To provide holistic education opportunities for the entire family unit, col offers wellness workshops that operate to give parents and caregivers the tools necessary to strengthen themselves and their families. Topics discussed have included mask-making, mindfulness and meditation, resources to help constituents pay rent, mental and physical health information (hosted by healthcare professionals), election information, and events such as "ask-a-teacher" workshops for parents with questions related to their students' virtual learning.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 90% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
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

SUPPORTED - The filed numbers largely add up and most voting board members are independent. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 59
  • Transparency & Controls: 67
  • Accountability: 91
  • Sustainability: 43
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 61.5%; rating input score 61
  • Program expense ratio: 65.8%; rating input score 66
  • Fundraising efficiency: $7.43 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 26; 26th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 93.8%; rating input score 94; 21st 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: 7 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 78
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Fail
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 7.1%; rating input score 49; 49th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.09; rating input score 36; 36th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.07; rating input score 54; 54th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 12.2%; rating input score 28; 28th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 9.7% per year; rating input score 100; 59th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 10.4% per year; rating input score 100; 67th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 10.9% per year; rating input score 100; 61st percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 61.5% of revenue deployed · 65.8% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 12 of 12 board members independent · 7 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $2.1M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $191K · 16 people listed · 1 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 33 of 33 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 15 filing years from 2011 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 4 filed money-flow records
  • 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 26/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 9 not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 49/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 36/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 28/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 54/100.