Lydia's House Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
431699278
IRS 990 coverage
2009–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
St Louis, MO, USA
Phone
3147714411
Rating
79
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Standard
Sector
Housing Support

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$2,929,999
Expenses
$2,207,759
Assets
$7,291,078
Liabilities
$120,421

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

14 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Karen Kirk (President/CEO)

Highest reported compensation

  • Karen Kirk (President/CEO): $194,372 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Providing domestic violence survivors and their children a safe place to heal, a voice for justice, and an opportunity for better and sustainable lives.

What it reported doing in 2024

For 30 years, Lydias House has been providing safe, confidentially located, Transitional Housing for abused adults and their children who are victims of domestic violence for a stay of up to two years. Lydias House continues to be the only stand-alone/confidentially located Transitional Housing Program in Missouri and is one of the largest in the country. Since inception in 1995, 1,392 adults and their children and pets have come into Lydias House for safety and resources. Lydias House serves 50 adults and up to 85 children at one time for up to 24 months. In this fiscal year the average stay was 24 months. In this fiscal year, Lydias Houses Transitional Housing Program provided 30,482 nights of safe housing and supportive services to a total of 125 survivors(61 adults and 64 children) as they made the transition from emergency shelter to safe independent living into homes of their own after receiving all the resources that they needed to overcome domestic violence. Of those leaving the program in the fiscal year, thirteen moved to their own permanent housing and thirteen moved in with friends and family. The program held 14,399 individual Case Management Sessions to help adults and their children heal and to provide resources to achieve their educational, health, employment, permanent housing, and other related goals. In addition, Lydias House provided 116 sessions of Individual Advocacy related to legal issues such as Orders of Protection and additional Civil/Criminal Advocacy. Thirty-three support groups provided the opportunity to share experiences, knowledge, and strength related to the violence they experienced. Advocates also provided 696 Follow-Up sessions to former residents of Lydias House. Periodic satisfaction surveys show that 98% of adult domestic violence victims reported having an increased knowledge of resources and 100% reported an increased sense of safety as a result of Individual Advocacy and attending Support Groups. Lydias House also has a job training and employment program - Lydias Ladle. The Ladle offers paid job training in the culinary field to both residential and non-residential DV survivors. This program provides participants with the opportunity to gain valuable job skills, build their resumes, create references for future employment, regain self-confidence, and improve their immediate financial situation. In 2025, Lydias House was issued the year three seal by CARF International proving that Lydias House is following its best practice policies and procedures. Lydias House relies on the generosity of friends and supporters to meet the enormous cost of providing programs and services year-round to adults and children escaping domestic violence. Abusive behavior and violence are never acceptable. Everyone deserves to feel valued, respected, and to live in a safe place they can call home.

Operating model

Revenue model
Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
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.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - 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 reported officer compensation is a large share of total spending, which may reflect staffing concentration.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 67
  • Transparency & Controls: 79
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 74
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 69%; rating input score 69
  • Program expense ratio: 77.4%; rating input score 77
  • Fundraising efficiency: $8.23 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 31; 31st percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 1 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 17
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 72nd 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: 8 of 8 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: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 24.6%; rating input score 81; 81st percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 3.3; rating input score 76; 76th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.02; rating input score 82; 82nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 8.8%; rating input score 34; 34th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 5.6% per year; rating input score 100; 43rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 6.4% per year; rating input score 100; 50th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 6.7% per year; rating input score 100; 44th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 69% of revenue deployed · 77.4% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 13 of 13 board members independent · 8 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $1.7M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $194K · 14 people listed · 1 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 39 of 39 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 16 filing years from 2009 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.
  • 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.

  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 31/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 34/100.