HighGround Advisors

Legal name: Fleming Church Loan Trust Highground Advisors

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
756035987
IRS 990 coverage
2020–2024
Official website data refreshed
Jul 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Dallas, TX, United States
Phone
214.978.3300
Rating
78
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Named Trusts N.E.C.
Affiliation
Christianity

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$1,932,793
Expenses
$1,853,359
Assets
$30,617,217
Liabilities
$0

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

Leadership & pay

1 person listed

People named in this filing

  • HIGHGROUND ADVISORS (Trustee)

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

OUR MISSION To encourage, receive and manage charitable gifts for nonprofit organizations and charitably minded individuals dedicated to transforming lives. OUR VALUES. Founded in 1930, HighGround Advisors is a nonprofit investment management and trust services company with $3.6 billion in assets. Our purpose is to advance the life-transforming work of our nonprofit client partners, and those who support them, by protecting, strengthening and growing the assets they entrust to us. Our areas of expertise include: endowment and investment management, real estate and minerals management, and gift planning. Our subsidiary, HighGround Trust Company, was established in 1996 and is chartered by the Texas Department of Banking. OUR VISION Protect. Strengthen. Grow.

What it reported doing in 2024

Income distributed to certain colleges, universities, hospitals and other benevolent institutions. See Schedule A, Part VI.

Operating model

Revenue model
Investment-supported. 96% of the money available for current operations came from recurring investment income.
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.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. A relatively small share of voting board members are independent and expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 88
  • Transparency & Controls: 90
  • Accountability: 36
  • Sustainability: 71
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 99.3%; rating input score 99
  • Program expense ratio: 99.7%; rating input score 100
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 0%; rating input score 0; 5th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 6 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 86
    • 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: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 4.1%; rating input score 48; 48th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 16.52; rating input score 95; 95th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 91; 91st percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 81; 81st percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 2.3% per year; rating input score 100; 28th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 2.6% per year; rating input score 100; 29th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 0.2% per year; rating input score 100; 18th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 1 operating location identified
  • Where the money goes: 99.3% of revenue deployed · 99.7% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 0 of 1 board members independent · 6 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $1.8M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 1 people listed
  • Consistency: 11 of 11 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 4 filing years from 2020 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 13 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 4 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.

  • High — Accountability: Independent voting board scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 48/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Form 990 shared with the board not reported.