Los Angeles Christian School
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 853685167
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2021–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Los Angeles, CA, US
- Phone
- (323) 735-2867 (Elementary) / (323) 731-1532 (Middle)
- Rating
- 83
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Elementary, Secondary Education, K - 12
- Affiliation
- Christianity
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $1,238,273
- Expenses
- $1,338,758
- Assets
- $64,675
- Liabilities
- $440
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
3 people listed
Highest reported compensation
- Cynthia Layton (School Principal/Board Secretary): $58,216 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Los Angeles Christian School empowers students to be leaders in the city through nurturing Christian character, self-confidence, academic competence and community. LACS is a community where we seek to love God and others. School families and staff support and care for each other with mutual love and respect. Academic Competence Students are able to thrive in academic settings once they leave our school. They are becoming proficient as defined by National and State standards. The Los Angeles Christian School equips and empowers young people to be the next generation of Christian leaders in the city. Dedicated teachers partner with families to help students develop the academic competence, Christian character and self-confidence needed to impact their communities. learn more Mission.
What it reported doing in 2024
Providing Holistic, Enriching, and Leadership Development Opportunities We provide enrichment opportunities for our students including field trips, camping experiences, at trip to New York City. These experiences are to encourage students to grow in leadership. Our students are also mentored to prepare them for high school and the mentor relationships often go beyond their time at our school, into their high school and even college years.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 61% 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
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 expenses are high relative to revenue.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 90
- Transparency & Controls: 90
- Accountability: 74
- Sustainability: 25
- Growth: 80
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 92.3%; rating input score 92
- Program expense ratio: 84.8%; rating input score 85
- Fundraising efficiency: $671.97 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 97; 97th percentile among comparable filings
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: Limited
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 3 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 38
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Fail
- CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Other executive compensation review process: Fail
- Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Missing
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -8.1%; rating input score 19; 19th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.05; rating input score 3; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.01; rating input score 72; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 4.3%; rating input score 55; 55th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 8.4% per year; rating input score 100; 57th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 4.6% per year; rating input score 100; 41st percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: -17.9% per year; rating input score 0; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 1 operating location identified
- Where the money goes: 92.3% of revenue deployed · 84.8% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 2 of 2 board members independent · 3 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $1.1M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $58K · 3 people listed
- Consistency: 41 of 41 current checks pass
- Schedules: 3 filed schedules
- Filing history: 4 filing years from 2021 to 2024
- 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.
- Moderate — Accountability: Governance controls: 4 of 7 not reported.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 19/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 3/100.
- High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 55/100.