Embark Ministries Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
274513522
IRS 990 coverage
2016–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2019
Location
Phoenix, AZ, USA
Phone
6023001094
Rating
66
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Christianity
Affiliation
Christianity

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$416,429
Expenses
$302,974
Assets
$524,428
Liabilities
$0

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

Leadership & pay

4 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • BRAD SMALL (PRESIDENT)
  • MARK ATHA (VICE PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • BRAD SMALL (PRESIDENT): $157,967 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Untethered to a specific church, embark exists to build strong godly men of faith and significance through unique bible-centered content that inspires and equips them to become better leaders, husbands, and fathers. Embark builds men of deep faith in god.

What it reported doing in 2025

Embark promotes organic building of community through hosting dinners, sporting events, car shows, etc. This builds strong, faith-driven, lasting relationships. Embark also leads trips including camping, cruises, and fishing trips for deeper fellowship and discipleship. Every trip is designed to reach men for christ and deepen their faith. In april 2025, embark hosted a men's event for men to invite their friends to be introduced to embark. We provided dinner and speaker. This was a one- time event.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 96% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 92% 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. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 57
  • Transparency & Controls: 71
  • Accountability: 70
  • Sustainability: 62
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 51.1%; rating input score 51
  • Program expense ratio: 67.9%; rating input score 68
  • Fundraising efficiency: $20.92 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 56; 56th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 90.9%; rating input score 91; 15th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 2 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 33
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 77.3%; rating input score 77; 50th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 75%; rating input score 75; 22nd 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: 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: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 27.2%; rating input score 78; 78th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.73; rating input score 55; 55th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 77; 77th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 52.1%; rating input score 3; 3rd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 3.4% per year; rating input score 100; 43rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 8.6% per year; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 18.9% per year; rating input score 100; 81st percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 51.1% of revenue deployed · 67.9% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 3 of 4 board members independent · 5 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $206K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $158K · 4 people listed · 2 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 26 of 27 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 7 filing years from 2016 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 3 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 1 filed related-organization link
  • 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 — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 51/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 7 not reported.
  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 56/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 55/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 3/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.