Pillars Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
391582471
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Appleton, WI, USA
Phone
9207319192
Rating
82
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Housing Development, Construction, Management

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$8,995,191
Expenses
$5,854,438
Assets
$14,348,669
Liabilities
$1,142,609

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

16 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • STEVE WILLIAMS (PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • LISA STRANDBERG (EXECUTIVE DI): $120,131 total reported compensation
  • JENNIE MOORE (CLIENT SERVI): $109,819 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

From homelessness to coming home, pillars provides shelter, support, and solutions to address the housing needs in our community.

What it reported doing in 2024

Affordable housing - providing a strong, stable foundation for success through quality, affordable housing that allows individuals and families to thrive. Housing stock is typically developed through purchase or donation of homes in the community; rehabilitation of homes using extensive involvement of community businesses, schools and volunteers; and rental of 152 units at a rate that is affordable to the tenants (i.e. Rent is set at an affordable level proportional to tenant income). In 2025 we inherited 10 rental properties comprising 20 additional units of housing.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 67% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 94% 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 - The filed numbers largely add up and a large share of total spending goes to programs. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 66
  • Transparency & Controls: 94
  • Accountability: 95
  • Sustainability: 76
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 55.1%; rating input score 55
  • Program expense ratio: 84%; rating input score 84
  • Fundraising efficiency: $22.78 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 63; 63rd percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 72nd 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; 63rd 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: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 34.9%; rating input score 87; 87th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.45; rating input score 68; 68th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.08; rating input score 63; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 3.9%; rating input score 62; 62nd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 14.9% per year; rating input score 100; 78th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 16.3% per year; rating input score 100; 84th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 5.8% per year; rating input score 100; 39th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 55.1% of revenue deployed · 84% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 14 of 14 board members independent · 7 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $4.9M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $120K · 16 people listed
  • Consistency: 35 of 35 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
  • Filing history: 11 filing years from 2010 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
  • 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.

Grant-readiness screening is separate from the live rating, not a measure of program quality. Review the source records before making a grant decision.

  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 55/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Other executive compensation review process not reported.
  • High — Grant Readiness: Federal audit findings: this organization reported findings in its latest federal Single Audit.