Lutheran Social Services of Indiana

Legal name: Lutheran Social Services Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN: 350868124
IRS 990 coverage: 2015–2025
Official website data refreshed: Sep 2026
Forms available: Form 990 2025, Form 990-T 2025
Location: Fort Wayne, IN, USA
Phone: 2604263347
Rating: 86
Verdict: STRONG
Rating confidence: Standard
Sector: Human Service Organizations
Affiliation: Christianity

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue: $5,468,471
Expenses: $6,356,825
Assets: $6,741,834
Liabilities: $491,291

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

Leadership & pay

17 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

ANGELA MOELLERING (PRESIDENT & CEO)

Highest reported compensation

ANGELA MOELLERING (PRESIDENT & CEO): $217,638 total reported compensation
SHAWNA SQUIBB (CFAO): $146,848 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Lutheran Social Services of Indiana expresses the love of Jesus Christ for all people through services that empower individuals and families to move toward social, emotional, and spiritual wholeness. As an organization accredited by the Council on Accreditation, Lutheran Social Services of Indiana adheres to the highest standard of best practices while providing quality services to those we serve. One way that we validate this commitment is through our Performance and Quality Improvement (PQI) processes. The purpose of PQI is reinforce our mission and best practices for every facet of our organization. We accomplish this by ensuring: Mission-driven: All program and services reflect the foundation of the agency. Client-centered: Services are designed and delivered with the focus on the needs of clients and the community at the earliest possible states by using best and evidenced-based...

What it reported doing in 2025

-Community Partners strengthens families and provides skills that prevent child abuse and neglect. Case Managers work with families to set parenting and life-skill goals, address their needs, and reduce self-sufficiency barriers. This program served 1,654 clients in 2025. -The Cup of Kindness/Financial Stability Program combines financial coaching, accountability, and skill development for families to set goals, develop a balanced spending plan, and achieve stability. This program served 600 clients in 2025. -Education Creates Hope and Opportunity assists teen parents in reducing barriers and achieving academic success with the goal of high school graduation. This program has consistently achieved a graduation rate above 95%, well above the national rates. This program served 82 clients in 2025. -Children and Family Services provides case management and counseling for families referred through the Department of Child Services. This program served 193 clients in 2025. -The Gear-up Safety Program offers individualized education and training for parents and assists with installing necessary safety items. This program served 587 clients in 2025. -Recovery Care provides wraparound recovery support to individuals and their families impacted by opioid and other substance use disorders. Participants are at the state in their recovery where they are integrating it into every-day life. The team offers advocacy and resource referral in home and community setting. This program served 99 clients in 2025. -Persistence Pays Off serves college students enrolled at and attending Ivy Tech and Purdue Fort Wayne to address and identify barriers to their educational goals and persist in degree completion. This program served 72 clients during 2025.

Operating model

Revenue model: Other-operating. 62% of the money available for current operations came from other operating revenue.
Distribution model: Direct operator. The filing allocates 91% 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.

Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

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 expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

Financial Efficiency: 81
Transparency & Controls: 92
Accountability: 100
Sustainability: 26
Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

Mission deployment rate: 93.4%; rating input score 93
Program expense ratio: 80.2%; rating input score 80
Fundraising efficiency: $6.73 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 22; 22nd percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
Pay-setting controls: 4 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 67
- Compensation committee: Missing
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
- Written employment contract: Pass
- Compensation survey or study: Pass
- Board or committee approval: Pass
Foreign activity oversight: Limited
Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 75th percentile among comparable filings
Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
Governance controls: 9 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 100
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: Pass
- Other executive compensation review process: Pass
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

Operating margin: -16.2%; rating input score 6; 6th percentile among comparable filings
Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.06; rating input score 36; 36th percentile among comparable filings
Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.07; rating input score 54; 54th percentile among comparable filings
Officer compensation ratio: 5.7%; rating input score 52; 52nd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

Program expense growth: 6.7% per year; rating input score 100; 45th percentile among comparable filings
Revenue growth: 5.9% per year; rating input score 100; 44th percentile among comparable filings
Asset growth: 2.5% per year; rating input score 100; 20th percentile among comparable filings

Details

What they do: 5 programs and campaigns described on the official site
Where the money goes: 93.4% of revenue deployed · 80.2% of spending went to programs
Governance: 15 of 15 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $5.1M in reported program spending
Leadership: top reported pay $218K · 17 people listed · 4 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
Consistency: 36 of 36 current checks pass
Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
Filing history: 11 filing years from 2015 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.

High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 22/100.
High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 6/100.
Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 36/100.
Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 52/100.
Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 54/100.