North Star Initiative
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 273129156
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2014–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2013, Form 990-N 2012
- Location
- Lititz, PA, USA
- Phone
- 7175682700
- Rating
- 88
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Group Homes
- Affiliation
- Christianity
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $1,555,254
- Expenses
- $1,946,981
- Assets
- $4,127,493
- Liabilities
- $70,361
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
7 people listed
Highest reported compensation
- MELINDA CLARK (EXECUTIVE DI): $115,069 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
North star initiative supports women who are survivors of domestic sex trafficking by providing physical, psychological, emotional and spiritual care through a christ-centered focus.
What it reported doing in 2025
North star initiative (nsi) is dedicated to the restoration of victims of sex trafficking and sexual exploitation. The harbor restoration program (hrp) provides 24/7/365 supervised, comprehensive care with on-site licensed clinical staff and up to 2 years of residency to female survivors of domestic sex trafficking. The harbor home is owned and operated by nsi and the program addresses the needs of sex trafficking survivors through intense trauma therapy, life and job skills, education, and career building. The hrp is unique, in that it is designed to provide each survivor with an individual program based on her circumstances, providing her with a clear path of exit to sustainable independence. The program operates at or close to full occupancy as survivors graduate. The harbor provides all services on site, including physician appointments, counseling appointments, education, and skill developing to name a few; which provides limited to no disruption as participants work through the program.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 94% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The filing allocates 97% 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: 89
- Transparency & Controls: 90
- Accountability: 95
- Sustainability: 34
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
- Program expense ratio: 88%; rating input score 88
- Fundraising efficiency: $11.05 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 38; 38th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 94.4%; rating input score 94; 27th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: Limited
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 78th 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: 7 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 88
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Other executive compensation review process: Pass
- Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -25.2%; rating input score 5; 5th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.12; rating input score 66; 66th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.02; rating input score 55; 55th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 5.9%; rating input score 48; 48th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 25% per year; rating input score 100; 85th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 17.2% per year; rating input score 100; 78th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 19.9% per year; rating input score 100; 79th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 88% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 7 of 6 board members independent · 7 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $1.7M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $115K · 7 people listed
- Consistency: 34 of 35 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
- Filing history: 11 filing years from 2014 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 3 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 2 filed related-organization links
- 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: Fundraising efficiency scored 38/100.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 5/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Form 990 shared with the board not reported.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Independent members within voting members did not reconcile in the filed values.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 48/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 55/100.