Lancaster Police Athletic League

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
264127436
IRS 990 coverage
2017–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-T 2025, Form 990-N 2012
Location
Lancaster, OH, USA
Phone
7406537301
Rating
74
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Youth Development N.E.C.

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$154,151
Expenses
$110,439
Assets
$231,482
Liabilities
$0

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

Leadership & pay

4 people listed

Highest reported compensation

  • WES SIMS (EXECUTIVE DI): $74,325 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

The lancaster police athletic league is dedicated to providing youth in lancaster, Ohio and surrounding communities with safe, constructive alternatives to life on the streets. Through after-school programs and other events focused on sports and other positive activities, we offer young people the opportunity to grow, stay engaged, and avoid involvement in illegal or harmful behavior. We believe participation in athletics and structured programs fosters good sportsmanship, strong moral character, leadership, and a lifelong commitment to serving the community.

What it reported doing in 2025

The lancaster police athletic league (lpal) is dedicated to providing youth in lancaster, Ohio and neighboring communities with structured, positive alternatives to unproductive or risky behaviors. Through athletic programs, primarily centered on boxing, lpal fosters physical wellness, personal discipline, and leadership development. The lpal delivers consistent, year-round programming including daily boxing instruction, as well as numerous community events and collaborative activities with other athletic organizations. These events are designed to build teamwork, promote healthy lifestyles, and expand access to developmental opportunities for youth. In addition to youth programming, lpal actively partners with local law enforcement agencies to implement events and outreach efforts that strengthen community-police relations and promote civic engagement. The following table summarizes the events hosted or participated in by lpal during 2025, including the event name, date, number of instances, and total youth participation. Program and event summary 2025 (2024) total number of events: 236 (237) total event participants: 4,039 (3,994) youth boxing and training - open gym (4 nights per week), 18, 252 lancaster police department - employee of the month recognition, 1, 12 visit to criminal science program at lancaster hight school, 1, 20 celebration of national law enforcement/division of fire apprecition day, 1, 2 junior and senior lhs criminal science class , 1, 22 youth boxing and training - open gym (4 nights per week), 16, 272 visit from counter punch combat sports, 1, 10 celebration of national girls & women in sports day, 1, 6 lancaster high school junior and senior criminal classes, 1, 24 rock steady boxing (rsb) , 1, 11 youth boxing and training - open gym (4 nights per week), 17, 238 particaption in law enforcement memorial ceremony, 1, 25 youth boxing and training - open gym (4 nights per week), 19, 589 brats and boxing benefit for trimble promise scholarship, 1, 75 youth boxing and training - open gym (4 nights per week), 17, 442 particaption in law enforcement memorial ceremony, 1, 25 spar wars, 1, 100 paticipation in kids & cops 25, 1, 100 last day junior and senior lhs criminal science class, 1, 30 youth boxing and training - open gym (4 nights per week), 17, 221 cambridge national rd bike show and ribfest, 1, 30 lancaster pal pool party, 1, 75 youth boxing and training - open gym (4 nights per week), 19, 266 july 4th lancaster parade participation, 1, 20 warriors boxing open spar session, 1, 17 youth boxing and training - open gym (4 nights per week), 16, 176 youth boxing and training - open gym (4 nights per week), 18, 126 junior and senior lhs criminal science class at fairfield county fair, 1, 5 trip to sam's gym in glouster, 1, 10 evening visit with officer friess, 1, 27 rock steady boxing (rsb), 1, 11 youth boxing and training - open gym (4 nights per week), 18, 162 rock steady boxing battling parkingson's disease, 1, 11 trick or treat 2025, 1, 25 youth boxing and training - open gym (4 nights per week), 16, 352 open sparring deck the halls, 1, 35 thanksgiving day parade participation, 1, 25 youth boxing and training - open gym (4 nights per week), 19, 190

Operating model

Revenue model
Other-operating. 72% of the money available for current operations came from other operating revenue.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 92% 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 fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 64
  • Transparency & Controls: 83
  • Accountability: 74
  • Sustainability: 64
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 61.2%; rating input score 61
  • Program expense ratio: 85.4%; rating input score 85
  • Fundraising efficiency: $2.69 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 12; 12th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 92.3%; rating input score 92; 24th 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: 3 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 38
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 28.4%; rating input score 79; 79th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.1; rating input score 60; 60th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 77; 77th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 67.3%; rating input score 1; 1st percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 17.3% per year; rating input score 100; 80th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 10.3% per year; rating input score 100; 70th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 11.2% per year; rating input score 100; 66th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 61.2% of revenue deployed · 85.4% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 3 of 3 board members independent · 3 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $94K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $74K · 4 people listed
  • Consistency: 23 of 24 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 8 filing years from 2017 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • 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.

  • Moderate — Accountability: Governance controls: 4 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 12/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Schedule G fundraiser detail did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 1/100.