LitShop

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
833522861
IRS 990 coverage
2025–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2024
Location
St Louis, MO, USA
Phone
3149413845
Rating
53
Verdict
MIXED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Education N.E.C.

Reported finances

Revenue
$309,466
Expenses
$160,053
Assets
$158,355
Liabilities
$28,053

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

Leadership & pay

6 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Lisa Rokusek (President)

People named in this filing

  • Kelli Best-Oliver (Executive Dir.)
  • Kim Beardslee (Director)
  • Jennifer Gibson (Director)

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 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

LitShop provides after-school and summer programming that pairs engaging literacy opportunities with building and making. By intentionally creating a supportive space where girls and gender-expansive youth can take risks, explore creatively, build skills, and connect with other youth, LitShop fosters leadership and confidence our students can use through adolescence and early adulthood.

What it reported doing in 2025

Community-Based Afterschool: LitShop community-based afterschool programs are semester-long workshops focusing on literacy and hands-on building and making, including at least one hands-on project and one literacy or writing study. Each program meets once weekly over the course of a semester. Free for participants. 12 participant capacity staffing includes two instructors.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 74% 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

MIXED - The filed numbers largely add up and revenue comfortably covers expenses. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and a relatively small share of voting board members are independent.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 50
  • Transparency & Controls: 90
  • Accountability: 0
  • Sustainability: 64
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 33.7%; rating input score 34
  • Program expense ratio: 64.9%; rating input score 65
  • Fundraising efficiency: $108.89 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 85; 85th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 0%; rating input score 0; 8th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 0 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 0
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • 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: Fail
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 48.3%; rating input score 90; 90th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.99; rating input score 41; 41st percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.18; rating input score 17; 17th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 67; 67th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: Limited
  • Revenue growth: 37.3% per year; rating input score 100; 95th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 34.8% per year; rating input score 100; 92nd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 33.7% of revenue deployed · 64.9% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 0 of 6 board members independent · 0 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $104K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 6 people listed
  • Consistency: 23 of 23 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: Resolved incoming and outgoing counterparties from filed money flows.
  • 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 34/100.
  • High — Accountability: Independent voting board scored 0/100.
  • High — Accountability: Governance controls: 6 of 6 not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 41/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 17/100.