Christian Service Mission

Legal name: Christian Service Mission Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
630594603
IRS 990 coverage
2011–2024
Official website data refreshed
Sep 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024
Location
Birmingham, AL, United States
Phone
(205) 252-9906
Rating
82
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Human Service Organizations
Affiliation
Christianity

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$2,271,831
Expenses
$1,765,943
Assets
$3,981,769
Liabilities
$7,215

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

Leadership & pay

6 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Tracy Hipps (Executive Director)

Highest reported compensation

  • Tracy Hipps (Executive Director): $125,323 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Christian Service Mission exists to connect resources with needs through relational partnerships to help communities thrive. Garden Volunteers** – weekly hands-on work in our garden Administrative SWATT** – This team supports behind the scenes, helping with organization, data entry, scheduling, and other office tasks that keep our mission running smoothly. Whether you can serve weekly or on an as-needed basis, your skills make a big difference. No matter your availability or skillset, there’s a place for you. Joining SWATT is a chance to serve consistently, grow in community, and step in when your time and talents are needed most.

What it reported doing in 2024

Resourcing: Campus Utilization: Our 3.85-acre campus is a hub for distributing resources.Disaster Support: We provide essential aid during natural disasters.Health Equity: We work to improve health outcomes in underserved communities.Initiatives and Donations: We facilitate food and product donations from corporations.Training: Mentoring: We offer training and mentoring for churches, pastors, schools, and after school programs.Cultural and Social Programs: Our programs include cross-cultural relationship building, reconciliation discussions, and workshops.Community Engagement: We provide training on church engagement, volunteerism, and working with the materially poor.Construction: Housing Projects: We build and repair homes to improve living conditions.Neighborhood Restoration: We restore neighborhoods and revitalize communities in Birmingham's inner city.Collaborative Efforts: We partner with churches, businesses, agencies, and volunteers to fund and complete projects.Holistic Support: We help residents lead healthier lives spiritually, physically, and socially by connecting them to local churches.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 88% 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

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 reported officer compensation is a large share of total spending, which may reflect staffing concentration.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 78
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 74
  • Sustainability: 72
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 71.3%; rating input score 71
  • Program expense ratio: 90.1%; rating input score 90
  • Fundraising efficiency: $36.96 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 73; 73rd percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd 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; 16th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 5 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 62
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 22.3%; rating input score 79; 79th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.25; rating input score 66; 66th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 91; 91st percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 7.1%; rating input score 41; 41st percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 5.8% per year; rating input score 100; 44th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 5.3% per year; rating input score 100; 43rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 9% per year; rating input score 100; 55th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 1 operating location identified
  • Where the money goes: 71.3% of revenue deployed · 90.1% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 5 of 6 board members independent · 5 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $1.6M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $125K · 6 people listed
  • Highest-paid contractors: 1 contractor listed · $132K reported
  • Consistency: 26 of 26 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 14 filing years from 2011 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • 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: Officer compensation ratio scored 41/100.