Hslda Action

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
541719605
IRS 990 coverage
2020–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Purcellville, VA, USA
Phone
5403385600
Rating
82
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$2,630,353
Expenses
$3,003,160
Assets
$8,443,332
Liabilities
$2,008,680

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

Leadership & pay

17 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Jim Mason (President Director)
  • Charles Hurst (Vice President of Administration)
  • Steven Oberlander (Vice President of Finance and Technology)
  • Suzanne Stephens (Vice President of Communications and Marketing)
  • Joel Grewe (Executive Director)

Highest reported compensation

  • Jim Mason (President Director): $353,883 total reported compensation
  • Charles Hurst (Vice President of Administration): $252,330 total reported compensation
  • Steven Oberlander (Vice President of Finance and Technology): $251,664 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

HSLDA Action is an educational and lobbying organization established to promote homeschooling.

What it reported doing in 2024

Educational and Instructional Services: HSLDA Actions Generation Joshua offers a civics program to educate young people in the original intent of our founding fathers with an emphasis on patriotism and Americas Godly heritage to instill in them a desire to be good stewards of this great country. HSLDA Online Academy offers over 40 distance learning courses to encourage families to homeschool through high school.

Operating model

Revenue model
Other-operating. 94% of the money available for current operations came from other operating revenue.
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

STRONG - 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 expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 85
  • Transparency & Controls: 79
  • Accountability: 92
  • Sustainability: 33
  • Growth: 80

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 88.4%; rating input score 88
  • Fundraising efficiency: $0.53 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 2; 2nd percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • 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: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 85.7%; rating input score 86; 17th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 8 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 100
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • 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: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -14.2%; rating input score 10; 10th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.81; rating input score 72; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.24; rating input score 40; 40th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 15.8%; rating input score 18; 18th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 9.5% per year; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 3.3% per year; rating input score 100; 29th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -1.2% per year; rating input score 0; 9th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 88.4% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 6 of 7 board members independent · 8 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $2.7M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $354K · 17 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 42 of 42 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 5 filing years from 2020 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • 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.

  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 2/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 10/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 18/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 40/100.