Manuel Zarate Ministries Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
631278157
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2024
Location
Birmingham, AL, USA
Phone
2059791442
Rating
72
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Christianity
Affiliation
Christianity

Reported finances

Revenue
$253,275
Expenses
$231,747
Assets
$67,975
Liabilities
$40,116

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

Leadership & pay

4 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • MANUEL ZARATE (PRESIDENT/DI)

Highest reported compensation

  • MANUEL ZARATE (PRESIDENT/DI): $106,200 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Communicating the gospel of jesus christ around the world, equipping the christian church to better respond to ethical and religious issues, and engaging in evangelism, apologetics, teaching, training and workshops on biblical thinking and culture.

What it reported doing in 2025

- hosted five different group meetings at the house with an average of 12 people in attendance to share the message of christ and to tell people about our vision for the link church plant and the ministry in miami - conducted over one hundred key gospel conversations with individuals in the miami area about the gospel and link church. - directed holy communion for a palm-sunday gathering at our house with sixteen guests. I taught on the concept of redemption and shared about our link vision. - taught sunday school classes on missions in monte vista chapel of California and shades mountain baptist church of birmingham - filmed fifteen thirty-minute sermons for our link youtube channel, which were viewed more than 3,000 times - helped lead a weekly online discipleship men's group called 'men of value.' this group has men from argentina, colombia, costa rica, puerto rico, ecuador and USA. I am the theologian in residence, which means that i led the discussions, clarified concepts and taught once a month from may to december. This program is recorded and then aired on the group's youtube channel, which had over 240,000 views through the year. - filmed 96 three-minute teaching programs for instagram, which were viewed over 100,000 times - visited sixteen churches in my area of miami to analyze what is being offered on sundays in the community. I was able to meet with four of the pastors to understand what god is already doing in the process of establishing our own strategy for regular gatherings. - attended a networking gathering for the colombian american chamber of commerce to meet people in this area and connect with the leadership community. - conducted marital counseling for seven couples in the miami area as well as in bogota, colombia. - conducted weekly coaching and counseling for three men in the miami area during the second semester. - re wrote and expanded my book 'release the brake,' which we want to publish and distribute this year. - lectured on christian spirituality and marketplace work online for samford university in birmingham, al during the summer.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 100% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 96% 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 - 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 the filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 79
  • Transparency & Controls: 77
  • Accountability: 69
  • Sustainability: 31
  • Growth: 40

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 76.8%; rating input score 77
  • Program expense ratio: 83.9%; rating input score 84
  • Fundraising efficiency: $39.1 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 70; 70th 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: 1 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 12
    • Claims monitoring procedures: Pass
    • Requires narrative reports: Fail
    • Conducts field audits: Fail
    • May suspend future funding: Fail
    • Requires financial reports: Fail
    • Conducts site visits: Fail
    • Requires grant agreements: Fail
    • May require repayment: Fail
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 81st 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; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 2 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 25
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 8.5%; rating input score 54; 54th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.29; rating input score 16; 16th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.59; rating input score 7; 7th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 45.8%; rating input score 4; 4th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 2.2% per year; rating input score 100; 38th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -3.2% per year; rating input score 0; 12th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -4.5% per year; rating input score 0; 10th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 76.8% of revenue deployed · 83.9% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 4 of 4 board members independent · 2 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $194K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $106K · 4 people listed
  • Consistency: 26 of 26 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors and foreign activity
  • Filing history: 4 filing years from 2010 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
  • 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.

  • High — Accountability: Governance controls: 5 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight: 7 of 8 not reported.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 16/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 54/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 4/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 7/100.