Pastoral Support Service

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
113715837
IRS 990 coverage
2019–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Lakeland, FL, USA
Phone
9046555277
Rating
64
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Affiliation
Christianity

Reported finances

Revenue
$367,200
Expenses
$280,467
Assets
$156,141
Liabilities
$0

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

Leadership & pay

9 people listed

Highest reported compensation

  • Ben Buckman (Director Office 1099 Misc): $120,224 total reported compensation
  • Fay Buckman (Director 1099 Misc): $16,400 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Missions promoting aid to indigenous pastors for theological education, church planting, evangelism, and local ministries. Areas of service are Portuguese and Spanish speaking countires including Brazil, Colombia, Equador, Guinea Bissau. Some areas lack written language.

What it reported doing in 2025

Support of indigenous pastoral training in Bibical sounseling for oral tribes in the Amazon. Support is surrounding areas, developing Bibical counseling for oral tribes in the Amazon. Support is provided through a 1099 laborer who does not meet the criteria of a key employee and is a director and senior officer. Person is a licensed marriage and family therapist touching the lives of over 3,000 people. He and his family are serving out of Brazil.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 100% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 49% for direct work, and 51% for grants.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. A relatively small share of voting board members are independent and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 75
  • Transparency & Controls: 73
  • Accountability: 23
  • Sustainability: 53
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 75.7%; rating input score 76
  • Program expense ratio: 99.1%; rating input score 99
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 90.9%; rating input score 91; 15th 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: 22.2%; rating input score 22; 17th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 2 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 25
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Limited
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 23.6%; rating input score 75; 75th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.56; rating input score 27; 27th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 77; 77th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 48.7%; rating input score 4; 4th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 7.6% per year; rating input score 100; 61st percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 5.9% per year; rating input score 100; 53rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 32.3% per year; rating input score 100; 91st percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 75.7% of revenue deployed · 99.1% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 2 of 9 board members independent · 2 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $278K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $120K · 9 people listed
  • Consistency: 15 of 16 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors and foreign activity
  • Filing history: 6 filing years from 2019 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: Independent voting board scored 22/100.
  • High — Accountability: Governance controls: 5 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight: 7 of 8 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 27/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Foreign grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 4/100.