Let's Start Talking
Legal name: Let's Start Talking Ministry
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 731570162
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2009–2025
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025
- Location
- Hurst, TX, USA
- Phone
- 8176847578
- Rating
- 75
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Interfaith Coalitions
- Affiliation
- Christianity
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $994,918
- Expenses
- $819,615
- Assets
- $1,859,259
- Liabilities
- $396,016
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
6 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- DR PHILIP WOODWARD (PRESIDENT)
People named in this filing
- MIKE BELL (DIRECTOR)
- DIANE DAVIS (DIRECTOR)
- JOHN OSBORNE (VICE PRESIDE)
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
LST mission project participant, Bangkok, Thailand Let’s Start Talking has been powerfully connecting people around the world through one-on-one English conversation practice since 1980. LST’s unique approach is an organic way to offer people something they genuinely want – a friend who will help them practice their conversational English – as well as something they need – God’s word. LST equips volunteers and churches with the training and materials to connect with their international neighbors through English, friendship, and the Word of God.
What it reported doing in 2025
Lst has three programs: friendspeak, lst connect, and lst projects (mission trips). Overall, during 2025 lst equipped 1,497 workers who engaged 2,625 international readers from 51 countries. Of these 1,497 workers, 209 participated in lst connect, 1,124 engaged in friendspeak, and 164 served with lst projects. Lst conducted 76 training events throughout the year and distributed 2,989 workbooks. Lst provded training, support, and/or materials to participants in 39 u.s. States and 51 countries.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
- 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
SUPPORTED - The filed numbers largely add up and a large share of available resources goes toward mission work. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and program spending has declined or grown slowly.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 63
- Transparency & Controls: 92
- Accountability: 88
- Sustainability: 64
- Growth: 20
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 59.7%; rating input score 60
- Program expense ratio: 72%; rating input score 72
- Fundraising efficiency: $17.86 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 52; 52nd 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; 64th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 5 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 71
- 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: Missing
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 17.6%; rating input score 69; 69th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.27; rating input score 68; 68th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.21; rating input score 24; 24th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 78; 78th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: -9% per year; rating input score 0; 5th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: -4.8% per year; rating input score 0; 4th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 8.5% per year; rating input score 100; 50th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 1 programs and campaigns described on the official site
- Where the money goes: 59.7% of revenue deployed · 72% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 6 of 6 board members independent · 5 of 7 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $590K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 6 people listed
- Consistency: 28 of 28 current checks pass
- Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 16 filing years from 2009 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: Resolved incoming and outgoing counterparties from filed money flows.
- Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
- 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.
- Review — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 52/100.
- High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
- High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 24/100.