Linden Grove Ministries

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
852334699
IRS 990 coverage
2020–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Princeton, NJ, USA
Phone
4256799344
Rating
62
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Religion Related N.E.C.
Affiliation
Christianity

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$821,319
Expenses
$659,888
Assets
$370,190
Liabilities
$10,019

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

Leadership & pay

8 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • ROBERT KING (PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • MATTHEW RISTUCCIA (DIRECTOR): $146,695 total reported compensation
  • KAREN RISTUCCIA (CO-DIRECTOR): $87,238 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

The organization provides support to develop christian pastors and church leaders through coaching, mentoring, and consulting programs, developing and publishing multimedia training materials and instructional literature, and cultivating financial resources including, but not limited to, through the solicitation, collection and raising of funds, donations, pledges, securities, obligations, gifts and property of any nature whatsoever, for the benefit of such programs and activities to develop such christian pastors and church leaders.

What it reported doing in 2025

Our mission at linden grove ministry (lgm) is to strengthen jesus' church by mentoring pastors, church leaders, and their spouses. We do this through five key activities: coming alongside - to listen, understand, love, pray with, and serve them equipping for godly church leadership - through shepherding, training, and coaching them by experienced pastors and church leaders providing transformative gospel community - for support, peer-to-peer fellowship and accountability, and biblical identity formation in christ engaging with spouses - as they manage their unique combination of roles as partners, congregants, and ministry leaders multiplying mentorship regionally and worldwide - by teaching them to be mentors, and by sharing our materials and experience with them and others. Lgm has three full time staff engaged in multiple cohorts and eleven adjunct mentors each with at least 15 years of ministry experience. Each cohort is guided by a curriculum that centers on a combination of empirically verified best practices for longevity in ministry, spiritual encouragement for pastors and leaders, and skill building in the most critical areas of ministry practice. Spanning a two-year cycle, these cohorts address the present, equip for the future, and create a context for lifelong encouragement among peers in ministry. We have regular events for cohort alumni that revisit foundations, provide pastoral insight and training on current ministry trends, and create a context for cohort graduates to renew their relationships with their mentors and cohort peers. Lgm is having a substantial impact on pastoral flourishing throughout the country and the world, with some special concentrations of mentees in New York city and Washington, d.c. The 1-on-1 mentoring model has been proven to be effective and mentees at linden grove report that participation in our cohorts is both life giving and skill building and have also allowed them to better handle the stresses of ministry. Both the cohorts and the accompanying 1-on-1 mentoring are fully funded and at no cost to mentees. Consequently, lgm is able to serve many pastoral leaders who cannot afford a similar level of mentoring, coaching, or professional development in the marketplace.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 99% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
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 most voting board members are independent. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and a relatively small share of total spending goes to programs.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 41
  • Transparency & Controls: 85
  • Accountability: 62
  • Sustainability: 48
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 31.2%; rating input score 31
  • Program expense ratio: 38.9%; rating input score 39
  • Fundraising efficiency: $1,352.77 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 98; 98th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 90.9%; rating input score 91; 10th 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: 75%; rating input score 75; 19th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 3 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 43
    • 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: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 19.7%; rating input score 72; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.56; rating input score 27; 27th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.03; rating input score 50; 50th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 35.5%; rating input score 5; 5th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 16.8% per year; rating input score 100; 74th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 29.2% per year; rating input score 100; 90th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 22.4% per year; rating input score 100; 82nd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 31.2% of revenue deployed · 38.9% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 6 of 8 board members independent · 3 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $257K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $147K · 8 people listed
  • Consistency: 25 of 25 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 5 filing years from 2020 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
  • 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.

  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 31/100.
  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Program expense ratio scored 39/100.
  • Moderate — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 6 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 27/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 5/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 50/100.