Lamb-lion Institute

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
942921842
IRS 990 coverage
2019–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Payson, AZ, USA
Phone
9284724308
Rating
76
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate

Reported finances

Revenue
$75,872
Expenses
$66,612
Assets
$1,139,716
Liabilities
$1,878

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

Leadership & pay

6 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Shelly Cordova (Vice-President)
  • Judith Lamb-Lion (President)

People named in this filing

  • Mark Ekwall (Board Member)
  • Davlo Vanier (Treasurer)
  • Shelly Cordova (Vice-President)

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 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

The primary mission is to help individuals dd evelop and achieve their human potential by providing education and training in spiritual/religious concepts and practices using retreats, meetings, lectures and individual counseling. The Institute provides limited assistance to needy persons

What it reported doing in 2025

Primary services included retreats, lectures, meetings and counseling sessions. Retreats are available to individuals and small groups throughout the year. Large retreats of 30 people or more are held in May and October each year. Lectures are given twice a week and meditation and contemplation sessions occur more often. Individuals counseling sessions occur on an almost daily basis

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 95% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 97% 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. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and program spending has declined or grown slowly.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 78
  • Transparency & Controls: 82
  • Accountability: 70
  • Sustainability: 63
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 83.1%; rating input score 83
  • Program expense ratio: 94.6%; rating input score 95
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 90.9%; rating input score 91; 19th 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: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 2 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 29
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • 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: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 12.2%; rating input score 64; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 17.11; rating input score 77; 77th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 27; 27th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 58; 58th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -0.7% per year; rating input score 0; 46th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 2.6% per year; rating input score 100; 67th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 1.3% per year; rating input score 100; 45th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 83.1% of revenue deployed · 94.6% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 6 of 6 board members independent · 2 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $63K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 6 people listed
  • Consistency: 41 of 42 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 7 filing years from 2019 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • 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: Governance controls: 4 of 6 not reported.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Foreign grants require schedule f did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 27/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 58/100.