EChO  Evergreen Christian Outreach

Legal name: Evergreen Christian Outreach

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
742539728
IRS 990 coverage
2016–2025
Official website data refreshed
Sep 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-T 2023
Location
Evergreen, CO, USA
Phone
303-670-1796
Rating
86
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Human Service Organizations
Affiliation
Christianity

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$3,615,942
Expenses
$3,735,697
Assets
$3,297,871
Liabilities
$2,110,950

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

Leadership & pay

15 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • TIM BARKLAGE (PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • DALE FLANDERS (EXECUTIVE DI): $143,276 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

EChO champions people on their unique path from survival to success. That means we meet people where they are, offering compassionate, holistic support to guide individuals and families from crisis to thriving. Through personalized services, we empower sustainable, fulfilling outcomes tailored to each person’s unique journey. At the same time, in **1987** , Jim and Carol Benson faced the devastating collapse of their family business when a partner disappeared with all the assets. But rather than turning inward, the Bensons turned outward. They brought their pain and resilience to a space at the Church of the Transfiguration, and with the support of a growing coalition of local churches, they began transforming their personal hardship into a mission of hope. Together, these two stories—one of faithful vision, the other of courageous response—came together to form EChO: a place where...

What it reported doing in 2025

Echo's resale store offers used clothing, furniture, and other household goods donated by individuals, at affordable prices to the mountain communities surrounding evergreen. Resale is a key component of echo's mission to assist people in our community with basic and urgent needs and to help them move from survival to success. Basic needs are not just food, but also affordable clothes for children and household goods that help provide a healthy and safe place to live. For many on fixed incomes, resale enables them to maintain a level of self-sufficiency in a similar way to our food pantry. Echo will provide goods free of charge to individuals if the costs are an economic barrier. Echo's client advocates use the donated goods to provide furnishings for clients as they move out of homelessness. In 2025 echo resale moved 18 homeless clients into permanent housing and furnished them.by providing the resale program, echo keeps valuable items out of landfills, recycles usable goods, supports the vision of nurturing hope, health, and security, and provides opportunities for individuals and groups to volunteer.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 85% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 58% for direct work, and 42% for grants.
  • 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. Expenses are high relative to revenue and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 83
  • Transparency & Controls: 90
  • Accountability: 95
  • Sustainability: 26
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 84.5%; rating input score 85
  • Program expense ratio: 87.4%; rating input score 87
  • Fundraising efficiency: $22.86 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 63; 63rd percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 94.4%; rating input score 94; 25th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 75th 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; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 7 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 88
    • 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: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -3.3%; rating input score 18; 18th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.88; rating input score 30; 30th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.64; rating input score 11; 11th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 3.8%; rating input score 64; 64th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 13.7% per year; rating input score 100; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 9.7% per year; rating input score 100; 65th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 20.9% per year; rating input score 100; 85th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 2 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
  • Where the money goes: 84.5% of revenue deployed · 87.4% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 14 of 14 board members independent · 7 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $3.3M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $143K · 15 people listed
  • Consistency: 36 of 37 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
  • Filing history: 10 filing years from 2016 to 2025
  • 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.

  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 18/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Other executive compensation review process not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 30/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 11/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule D land buildings reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.