Life Way Christian School
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 264283493
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2013–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Centerton, AR, USA
- Phone
- 4797959322
- Rating
- 85
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Secondary, High School
- Affiliation
- Christianity
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $4,867,591
- Expenses
- $4,492,487
- Assets
- $1,504,531
- Liabilities
- $307,463
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
4 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- CLIFF MATHIS (PRESIDENT)
People named in this filing
- JIM BRADFORD (BOARD MEMBER)
- JOJI VARGHESE (BOARD MEMBER)
- ALLEN WILLIAMS (HEAD OF SCHOOL)
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 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
As a ministry of first baptist church centerton, life way christian school will enter into a parternship with christian families in order to equip young people with a biblical worldview so that they can engage the culture in a way that will exalt the name of christ
What it reported doing in 2024
To provide biblically based christian education to students
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Earned-program. 99% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
- 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
STRONG - 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 total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 84
- Transparency & Controls: 100
- Accountability: 70
- Sustainability: 46
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 91.5%; rating input score 91
- Program expense ratio: 100%; rating input score 100
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
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; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 2 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 29
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Fail
- Document-retention policy: Fail
- CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Missing
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 7.7%; rating input score 58; 58th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.33; rating input score 11; 11th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.2; rating input score 43; 43rd percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 91; 91st percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 4.8% per year; rating input score 100; 38th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 4.4% per year; rating input score 100; 37th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 6.3% per year; rating input score 100; 41st percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 91.5% of revenue deployed · 100% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 4 of 4 board members independent · 2 of 7 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $4.5M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 4 people listed
- Consistency: 21 of 21 current checks pass
- Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 12 filing years from 2013 to 2024
- 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 — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 11/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 58/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 43/100.