Lad Lake

Legal name: Lad Lake Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
390806398
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2025
Official website data refreshed
Sep 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Dousman, WI, USA
Phone
(262) 965-2131
Rating
86
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Standard

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$15,847,013
Expenses
$15,179,097
Assets
$16,315,621
Liabilities
$3,285,212

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

Leadership & pay

21 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • DONELLE HAUSER (PRESIDENT & CEO)

Highest reported compensation

  • DONELLE HAUSER (PRESIDENT & CEO): $218,394 total reported compensation
  • REBECCA BARNES (PSYCHIATRIC NURSE PRACTITIONER): $170,017 total reported compensation
  • HIAWATHA THOMAS (LEAD TREATMENT SPECIALIST): $144,934 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

To guide the growth of youth and families so they can reach their fullest potential.

What it reported doing in 2025

Lad lake offers a variety of specialized academic programs for youth at-risk of school failure. Lad lake operates three schools in milwaukee and dousman with programs that are specifically suited to meet the needs and challenges of each student. With a highly-individualized classroom environment, high teacher-to-child ratios, and onsite specialists and therapists, lad lake schools give students the greatest opportunity for success. Through its day schools and onsite schools at its two residential campuses, lad lake teachers help hundreds of kids with developmental and behavioral challenges succeed in school including: youth with developmental delays or behavioral disabilities, youth with alcohol or other drug dependencies, students with severe credit deficiencies, students at-risk of expulsion. For many of these youth, lad lake is their last hope at getting back on track academically. Lad lake teachers offer individualized education plans for students, and are able to cater to their specialized needs. Through our educational programs, 76% of our youth increased their reading and math scores by 2 grade levels in one semester.

Operating model

Revenue model
Grant-funded. 87% of the money available for current operations came from government grants.
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.
  • 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 total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 88
  • Transparency & Controls: 85
  • Accountability: 91
  • Sustainability: 40
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 89.6%; rating input score 90
  • Program expense ratio: 85.5%; rating input score 86
  • Fundraising efficiency: $81.28 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 82; 82nd percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th 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: Yes; rating input score 100

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 92.9%; rating input score 93; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 8 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 89
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • 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: 4.2%; rating input score 42; 42nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.07; rating input score 32; 32nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.2; rating input score 52; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 6.9%; rating input score 43; 43rd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 2.2% per year; rating input score 100; 19th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 2.9% per year; rating input score 100; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 1.5% per year; rating input score 100; 11th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 4 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
  • Where the money goes: 89.6% of revenue deployed · 85.5% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 13 of 14 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 5 filed program accomplishments · $13M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $218K · 21 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 2 contractors listed · $350K reported
  • Consistency: 35 of 35 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 9 filed schedules · includes major donors, executive pay, and related organizations
  • Filing history: 15 filing years from 2010 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 7 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.
  • Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 42/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 32/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Other executive compensation review process not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 43/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 52/100.