Mark Ministries

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
833126859
IRS 990 coverage
2024–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2023, Form 990-N 2021
Location
Ventura, CA, USA
Phone
8052451644
Rating
46
Verdict
MIXED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Christianity
Affiliation
Christianity

Reported finances

Revenue
$268,521
Expenses
$250,845
Assets
$110,305
Liabilities
$110,305

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

Leadership & pay

5 people listed

Highest reported compensation

  • Paul Lenderman (Director): $61,200 total reported compensation
  • Julianne Lenderman (Office Manager): $31,200 total reported compensation
  • Haleigh Lenderman (Program Assistant): $18,500 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Mark Ministries is a grief support ministry that endeavors to bring comfort, peace, and hope to everyone who is experiencing any type of loss. As a community outreach, the mission is to show compassion in providing both non-religious and faith-based grief support in a safe atmosphere.

What it reported doing in 2025

Grief Support Groups and Memorial Services for indinviduals and families going through various losses.

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 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 has grown recently. 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: 38
  • Transparency & Controls: 68
  • Accountability: 31
  • Sustainability: 31
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 42%; rating input score 42
  • Program expense ratio: 44.9%; rating input score 45
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 90%; rating input score 90; 10th 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: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 0%; rating input score 0; 8th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 6 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 75
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • 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: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 6.6%; rating input score 50; 50th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.44; rating input score 22; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 1; rating input score 3; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 44.2%; rating input score 5; 5th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -2.5% per year; rating input score 0; 21st percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 17.3% per year; rating input score 100; 83rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 19.3% per year; rating input score 100; 82nd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 42% of revenue deployed · 44.9% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 0 of 3 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $34K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $61K · 5 people listed · 1 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 1 contractor listed · $11K reported
  • Consistency: 24 of 25 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 2 filing years from 2024 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 6 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.

  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 42/100.
  • High — Accountability: Independent voting board scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Program expense ratio scored 45/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 8 not reported.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 50/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 22/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Fund balance restriction sum did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 3/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 5/100.