Lifted Higher Ministries

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
824071498
IRS 990 coverage
2025–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2024, Form 990-N 2019
Location
Headland, AL, USA
Phone
2483428488
Rating
81
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Family Services

Reported finances

Revenue
$200,059
Expenses
$194,218
Assets
$142,751
Liabilities
$71,346

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

Leadership & pay

6 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Brandee Lukas (Executive Director)

Highest reported compensation

  • Brandee Lukas (Executive Director): $47,858 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Building stronger families to make for strong communities

What it reported doing in 2025

Other Program Services Needs Based Mentoring Model and Community Partnerships | The ministry strengthens its core mission by developing a structured needs based mentoring model and collaborating with community partners churches and businesses. Its mentoring framework emphasizes engagement teaching life skills structured goal setting advocacy with community resources and continuous assessment. This model guides all work with parents children and elderly adults helping volunteers provide focused long term support rather than one time relief. The organization is a referral based agency and coordinates closely with DHR SARCOA CASA local nonprofits and churches to avoid duplication and ensure comprehensive care. It recruits and trains volunteers from multiple congregations and engages businesses and donors to provide furnishings meals transportation and special assistance for families and elderly clients. Emerging efforts include expanded mentoring for justice involved women enhanced volunteer recruitment and fundraising teams and deeper partnerships around employment and homeownership support. These activities underpin and expand the impact of the primary programs described on lines 4a4c. 2026 GOALS: Gain 2 to 4 additional volunteers; strengthen and grow the LHM Thrift Stores impact; receive funding to expand outreach and budgetary needs; and recruit 3 new board members who are passionate about the mission and bring time talent and community connections.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 95% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 98% 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. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 82
  • Transparency & Controls: 85
  • Accountability: 90
  • Sustainability: 33
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 85.1%; rating input score 85
  • Program expense ratio: 87.7%; rating input score 88
  • Fundraising efficiency: $16.13 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 50; 50th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 90.9%; rating input score 91; 15th 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: 6 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 75
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • 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: Fail
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 2.9%; rating input score 43; 43rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.74; rating input score 33; 33rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.5; rating input score 8; 8th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 24.6%; rating input score 14; 14th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: Limited
  • Revenue growth: 25.6% per year; rating input score 100; 90th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 20% per year; rating input score 100; 83rd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 85.1% of revenue deployed · 87.7% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 4 of 4 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $170K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $48K · 6 people listed
  • Consistency: 41 of 42 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • 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.

  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 50/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 8 not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 43/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 33/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 8/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 14/100.