Lifeline Children's Services
Legal name: Lifeline Children's Services Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 630896878
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2010–2025
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025
- Location
- Birmingham, AL, USA
- Phone
- 2059670811
- Rating
- 77
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Christianity
- Affiliation
- Christianity
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $22,670,457
- Expenses
- $19,160,008
- Assets
- $9,930,967
- Liabilities
- $4,349,791
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
17 people listed
Highest reported compensation
- HERBERT NEWELL (EXECUTIVE DI): $316,168 total reported compensation
- JEFFREY KUNARD (KEY EMPLOYEE): $173,715 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
To equip the Body of Christ to manifest the gospel to vulnerable children. We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures as a representative, substitutionary, and complete sacrifice; and that all who believe in Him are justified on the ground of His shed blood. (Isaiah 53:4-6; 2 Corinthians 5:17-21; Ephesians 5:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24, 3:18) We believe that all who receive by grace, through faith, the Lord Jesus Christ are born of the Holy Spirit and become children of God, and there is no other way of salvation but through Jesus. (John 1:12-14, 3:3, 5:24, 14:6; Galatians 4:4-7; Ephesians 2:8-10) We believe in the personal, visible, and second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, at a time unknown to us but for which we are eagerly antic.
What it reported doing in 2025
Costs associated with the placement of children domestically and foreign through adoption. Children are placed in adoption families from around the united states and around the world from many foreign 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 - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and some related-organization disclosures are missing.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 67
- Transparency & Controls: 79
- Accountability: 95
- Sustainability: 49
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 67.5%; rating input score 67
- Program expense ratio: 78.3%; rating input score 78
- Fundraising efficiency: $8.95 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 30; 30th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
- Compensation committee: Pass
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
- Written employment contract: Missing
- Compensation survey or study: Pass
- Board or committee approval: Pass
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: Limited
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Scored; rating input score 0
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 7 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 88
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Other executive compensation review process: Pass
- Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 15.5%; rating input score 69; 69th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.52; rating input score 13; 13th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.44; rating input score 30; 30th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 2.6%; rating input score 76; 76th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 10.7% per year; rating input score 100; 69th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 12.4% per year; rating input score 100; 81st percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 19% per year; rating input score 100; 89th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 6 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
- Where the money goes: 67.5% of revenue deployed · 78.3% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 14 of 14 board members independent · 7 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $15M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $316K · 17 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Consistency: 37 of 37 current checks pass
- Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors, executive pay, and related organizations
- Filing history: 13 filing years from 2010 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 2 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.
- Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.
Key Signals
Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.
- Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 30/100.
- High — Transparency & Controls: Related-party transparency scored 0/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 13/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Form 990 shared with the board not reported.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 30/100.