Life Light Educational Foundation

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
261374037
IRS 990 coverage
2016–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
South El Monte, CA, USA
Phone
6264013035
Rating
71
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Scholarships, Student Financial Aid Services, Awards

Reported finances

Revenue
$327,884
Expenses
$235,523
Assets
$1,606,271
Liabilities
$10,076

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

Leadership & pay

3 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • WILLIAM LEI (PRESIDENT)
  • ROBERT P LEWIS (VICE PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • WILLIAM LEI (PRESIDENT): $15,300 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

To provide financial assistance to blind, handicapped or poor students who are unable to receive education due to financial hardship so that they will be able to support themselves, and lifting the burden off society to care for them.

What it reported doing in 2024

Provide financial assistance to foreign educational institutions for blind, and handicapped students who have financial hardship. Institutions that received grants include china evangelical seminary (taipei, taiwan), pollard school (yunnan, china), the trade school for blind (zhengzhou, china), beijing blind center (beijing, china), xianll (xian, china), chinese ministry (henan, china), mbc (beijing, china), and taiwan life light foundation(taipei, taiwan).

Operating model

Revenue model
Grant-funded. 83% of the money available for current operations came from government grants.
Distribution model
Grant intermediary. The nonprofit sent 100% of its reported program spending out as grants.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. The filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 70
  • Transparency & Controls: 74
  • Accountability: 69
  • Sustainability: 72
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 75.5%; rating input score 75
  • Program expense ratio: 83.5%; rating input score 84
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 91.7%; rating input score 92; 19th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: 0 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 0
    • Claims monitoring procedures: Fail
    • Requires narrative reports: Fail
    • Conducts field audits: Fail
    • May suspend future funding: Fail
    • Requires financial reports: Fail
    • Conducts site visits: Fail
    • Requires grant agreements: Fail
    • May require repayment: Fail
  • Grant itemization coverage: 95.9%; rating input score 96; 56th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 2 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 25
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: Fail
    • 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: 28.2%; rating input score 81; 81st percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 6.82; rating input score 84; 84th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.01; rating input score 48; 48th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 6.5%; rating input score 32; 32nd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 0.7% per year; rating input score 100; 33rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -1.3% per year; rating input score 0; 19th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 5.7% per year; rating input score 100; 50th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 75.5% of revenue deployed · 83.5% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 3 of 3 board members independent · 2 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $197K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $15K · 3 people listed
  • Consistency: 21 of 23 current checks pass · 2 findings to review
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, and grants
  • Filing history: 8 filing years from 2016 to 2024
  • 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.

Key Signals

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

  • High — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight: 8 of 8 not reported.
  • High — Accountability: Governance controls: 5 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Foreign grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 32/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 48/100.