The Crown College
Legal name: Crown College
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 621504678
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2013–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Jul 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Powell, TN, US
- Phone
- 1.877-MY CROWN (865)938-8186
- Rating
- 84
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Affiliation
- Christianity
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $10,969,742
- Expenses
- $10,068,778
- Assets
- $18,582,635
- Liabilities
- $9,799,900
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
10 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- JAMES ZENKER (CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER)
Highest reported compensation
- TIMOTHY L TOMLINSON (VP OF ADMINISTRATION): $115,363 total reported compensation
- JAMES ZENKER (CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER): $112,501 total reported compensation
- LOYD K EWING (ACADEMIC DEAN): $47,193 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
To provide a Bible-based education that equips students to connect their work to God's work in this world, developing the mind of Christ in every student.
What it reported doing in 2024
Operation of college for undergraduate and graduate levels in various levels of religion and educational interests.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Earned-program. 85% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The filing allocates 89% 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 total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 76
- Transparency & Controls: 94
- Accountability: 86
- Sustainability: 58
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 74%; rating input score 74
- Program expense ratio: 80.6%; rating input score 81
- Fundraising efficiency: $44.51 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 74; 74th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: Limited
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 72nd 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; 66th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 6 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 67
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Fail
- Document-retention policy: Fail
- CEO compensation review process: Pass
- 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: 8.2%; rating input score 63; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.85; rating input score 59; 59th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.53; rating input score 27; 27th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 3%; rating input score 68; 68th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 4.5% per year; rating input score 100; 38th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 4.9% per year; rating input score 100; 43rd percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 3.9% per year; rating input score 100; 28th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 11 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
- Where the money goes: 74% of revenue deployed · 80.6% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 6 of 6 board members independent · 6 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $8.1M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $115K · 10 people listed
- Highest-paid contractors: 1 contractor listed · $1.1M reported
- Consistency: 32 of 32 current checks pass
- Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
- Filing history: 11 filing years from 2013 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 4 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 2 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.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 9 not reported.
- Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 59/100.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 27/100.