Erie City Mission

Legal name: City Mission of the Evangelical Churches of Erie

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
250987217
IRS 990 coverage
2019–2024
Official website data refreshed
Jul 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Erie, PA, United States
Phone
(814) 452-452-4421
Rating
85
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Affiliation
Christianity

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$6,700,887
Expenses
$5,118,729
Assets
$10,858,250
Liabilities
$791,436

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

Leadership & pay

11 people listed

People named in this filing

  • MALCOLM BEALL (CHAIRMAN)
  • GREG PAULDING (TREASURER)
  • NATALIE WASHBURN (SECRETARY)

Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.

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

Overview

Mission

Since the Mission opened its doors in 1911, it has given hope, recovery, and opportunity to thousands of our community's most vulnerable men, women, and families. To effectively meet both the immediate and long-term challenges of those we serve, the Erie City Mission has five core programs that focus on both intervention and prevention needs. Our intervention programs include an emergency men's shelter, long-term addictions recovery for men and women, and hunger relief through free meals. Our prevention program, Urban University, offers educational, leadership, and career exploratory opportunities to inner-city youth. > Our Mission — Restoring Hope, Transforming Lives.

What it reported doing in 2024

Intervention services are at the core of the Mission's purpose and primarily involve providing food for the hungry, shelter for homeless men, and long-term recovery programs (from drug & alcohol addictions) to both men and women. The Mission has high utilization for each program: Food - 136,000+ meals served at Public Breakfast and Lunch and significant food distribution through dining pantry services; our 56-bed Samaritan Care men's shelter serving 567 different men this year; and 24 women served at the Grace House location. Our residential, recovery programs provide opportunity for life transformation and address critical issues that are part of our national opioid and addictions epidemic, of which Erie, PA is no exception. The Mission assisted in moving 170 individuals into independent housing and 103 individuals as being gainfully employed.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 87% 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.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

The verdict

STRONG - 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 filed totals do not add up.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 75
  • Transparency & Controls: 87
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 75
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 78.3%; rating input score 78
  • Program expense ratio: 81.3%; rating input score 81
  • Fundraising efficiency: $11.7 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 43; 43rd percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 94.1%; rating input score 94; 23rd 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: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 7 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 100
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • 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: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 23.6%; rating input score 80; 80th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.12; rating input score 64; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.07; rating input score 64; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 91; 91st percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 7.1% per year; rating input score 100; 51st percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 7.2% per year; rating input score 100; 56th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 5.3% per year; rating input score 100; 36th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 5 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
  • Where the money goes: 78.3% of revenue deployed · 81.3% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 11 of 11 board members independent · 7 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $4.2M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 11 people listed
  • Consistency: 31 of 32 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 6 filing years from 2019 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: Resolved incoming and outgoing counterparties from filed money flows.
  • 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.
  • Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 43/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.