Friendship House of Christian Service Inc

What it reported doing in 2024

FOSTERING RENEWAL, STABILITY, AND TRANSFORMATION IN THE LIVES OF CHILDREN AND FAMILIES, AND PROVIDING PROGRAMMING AND SERVICES TO EMPOWER YOUTH AND FAMILIESFriendship House of Christian Service was started by a coalition of downtown Billings'churches in 1957 to provide essential services to the impoverished andunder-resourced children and families living on Billings' south side. Over the years , the mission of Friendship House has remained constant: "Reflecting the Love of Jesus Christ to foster renewal, stability and transformation in the lives of children and families in South Billings." Our overarching goal is to break the cycle of generational poverty through education, investment and access to essential services. We seek to provide holistic community development and build leaders through serving at-risk and low-income children and families. Because our goal requires tremendous buy-in from our enrollees, we strive to develop long lasting friendship with children and families we serve through compassion, care and accountability . By offering services for ages 4-104 since 1957, we truly have become the foundation that allows our clients to grow into successful leaders.The five core programs we use to achieve this goal include our: Preschool- f or 4-5year old children, Youth-Afterschool/Summer Enrichment Programs for K-6th gradestudents, Teen- Programming for 13-19 year olds including open gym and Cafe', Parent/Caregiver/Adult Support Programming- educational classes, and Counseling- for all age levels, individuals and families . Because of the tremendous support of our donors, grantors, contractors and endowment, we have found tremendous success in working to increase school readiness by 100% in Preschoolers, K-6th grade student academic test scores have increased 17%, student social growth has improved 10%, student emotional growth increased 13%, parental support classes have educated over 300 this year, access to food resources has grown by 10%, neighborhood teen social and emotional support rose by 100% and we provided over 1,000 hours of counseling this year.We are not a franchise of a national organization; rather we are a homegrownBillings, Montana community response to meeting our community's deepest needs. We have a local board of directors from the various sectors of the Billings community and maintain local control of our work. We do not proselytize, rather we share God's love through acts of service that earn us the right to invest in lives challenged bypoverty and brokenness. While we are a part of several local, statewide, nationwideand worldwide affinity groups that support and encourage our work to theunder-resourced, we are independent and can serve where our community has the mostimmediate need. We have the support of more than 75 businesses and 40 churches andmore than 25 partner agencies that encourage our work with contributions, volunteersand donations. We are truly making great strides in developing our community, building leaders and are meeting and exceeding our goals.

Financial Efficiency

• Mission deployment rate: 64.4%; rating input score 64
• Program expense ratio: 76%; rating input score 76
• Fundraising efficiency: $4.18 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 14; 14th percentile among comparable filings

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: 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: 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: Pass
  • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
  • Audit committee oversight: Fail
  • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

• Operating margin: 16.5%; rating input score 72; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
• Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.98; rating input score 64; 64th percentile among comparable filings
• Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.06; rating input score 50; 50th percentile among comparable filings
• Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 81; 81st percentile among comparable filings

Growth

• Program expense growth: 9.9% per year; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
• Revenue growth: 9.3% per year; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
• Asset growth: 14.4% per year; rating input score 100; 71st percentile among comparable filings