Mercy Gate Ministries

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
823161822
IRS 990 coverage
2022–2025
Official website data refreshed
Jun 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2020
Location
Ingram, TX, USA
Phone
(830) 367-3285
Rating
82
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Alliance/Advocacy
Affiliation
Religious (unspecified)

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$1,218,405
Expenses
$993,083
Assets
$3,084,579
Liabilities
$331,694

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

Leadership & pay

13 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • MICHELLE FAUST (PRESIDENT)
  • JULIE CHAPA (VICE-PRESIDENT)
  • CHAE SPENCER (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)
  • LISA CARPENTER (ASSISTANT EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)

Highest reported compensation

  • CHAE SPENCER (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $47,956 total reported compensation
  • LISA CARPENTER (ASSISTANT EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $40,340 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Mercy Gate Ministries is dedicated to being a lifeline for a lifetime—breaking the bonds of captivity by restoring hope through a process from Rescue to Restoration and into Advocacy, including court training and victim advocacy for survivors of sexual exploitation/sexual trauma. The Court Training and Advocacy for Victim/Defendants of Sexual Exploitation is a proactive program to support victims/defendants through courtroom advocacy and specialized training opportunities for court officials and judicial stakeholders. It is a two-part program that consists of 1) Court Appointed Adult Victim Advocates, and 2) Customized Court Training. Court Appointed Adult Victim Advocate - CAAVA The responsibility of an advocate is to work closely with victims/defendants in order to help them discover any and all resources available to them on their road to recovery and, ultimately, reintegration...

What it reported doing in 2025

Mercy gate ministries serves as a second responder by working with law enforcement, substance abuse and treatment facilities, and the judicial courts to care for victims of sex trafficking and sex exploitation. Mercy gate ministries handles crisis cases; responds to inmates; and our survivor advocate directly supports women throughout the year. Furthermore, mercy gate ministries refers women into our journey program; which is one of less than a dozen residential and non-residential services provided in Texas dedicated to helping women victims of sexual trafficking and exploitation, and the only entity of it's kind serving the Texas hill country. In addition to working directly with sexually exploited women, mercy gate has reached thousands of individuals through an extensive outreach program. This program includes church presentations, public awareness events, special events and fundraisers, training with task force members, social workers and security personnel, presentations to high school students, and media coverage in print, television, radio, social media, and local podcasts.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 98% 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.
  • 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 some filed totals do not add up.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 70
  • Transparency & Controls: 87
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 64
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 66.1%; rating input score 66
  • Program expense ratio: 81.1%; rating input score 81
  • Fundraising efficiency: $21.83 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 58; 58th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 93.8%; rating input score 94; 25th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • 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: 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: 18.5%; rating input score 70; 70th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 3.11; rating input score 75; 75th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.11; rating input score 34; 34th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 8.9%; rating input score 40; 40th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 27.3% per year; rating input score 100; 87th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 30.8% per year; rating input score 100; 91st percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 36% per year; rating input score 100; 92nd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 3 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
  • Where the money goes: 66.1% of revenue deployed · 81.1% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 11 of 11 board members independent · 8 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $805K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $48K · 13 people listed
  • Consistency: 29 of 30 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 4 filing years from 2022 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 3 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.

  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 58/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 34/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 40/100.