Discerning Deacons

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
931419293
IRS 990 coverage
2024–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-N 2023
Location
Durham, NC, USA
Phone
7817990239
Rating
73
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Roman Catholic
Affiliation
Christianity

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$786,238
Expenses
$826,705
Assets
$466,426
Liabilities
$26,341

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

Leadership & pay

9 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Bridget Deegan-Krause (President)
  • Kim Smolik (Vice President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Eloisa Hidalgo Co-ED (Executive Dir.): $99,915 total reported compensation
  • Casey Stanton Co-ED (Executive Dir.): $95,105 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

To engage and educate Catholics to promote roles of women in the church.

What it reported doing in 2025

During 2025, Discerning Deacons expanded programs supporting Catholic discernment, leadership formation, and dialogue regarding women in the diaconate. The organization convened more than 1,000 participants through educational events, launched the PROCLAIM preaching formation program with support from Saint Thomas More Catholic Community, awarded international microgrants in four countries, expanded vocational formation initiatives, strengthened partnerships with theological institutions, and enhanced organizational governance, fundraising, and operational capacity to support its mission.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 100% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 99% 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 - 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 filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 68
  • Transparency & Controls: 86
  • Accountability: 84
  • Sustainability: 23
  • Growth: 40

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 74.7%; rating input score 75
  • Program expense ratio: 71%; rating input score 71
  • Fundraising efficiency: $6.55 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 23; 23rd percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 91.7%; rating input score 92; 15th 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; 64th 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: -5.1%; rating input score 19; 19th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.56; rating input score 27; 27th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.06; rating input score 42; 42nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 23.6%; rating input score 12; 12th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 30.2% per year; rating input score 100; 88th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -32.6% per year; rating input score 0; 1st percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -7.4% per year; rating input score 0; 4th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 74.7% of revenue deployed · 71% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 7 of 7 board members independent · 5 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $587K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $100K · 9 people listed
  • Consistency: 28 of 29 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 2 filing years from 2024 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 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.
  • 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.

  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 23/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 19/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 27/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Foreign grants require schedule f did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 12/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 42/100.