Project LEE
Legal name: Project Lee Ministries Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 161511903
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2012–2025
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2022, Form 990-N 2019
- Location
- Buffalo, NY, USA
- Phone
- 7169060375
- Rating
- 55
- Verdict
- MIXED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Religion Related N.E.C.
- Affiliation
- Religious (unspecified)
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $197,509
- Expenses
- $201,629
- Assets
- $17,407
- Liabilities
- $0
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
6 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- EUGENE COPLIN (PRESIDENT CEO)
Highest reported compensation
- EUGENE COPLIN (PRESIDENT CEO): $66,162 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
The vision of Project LEE is to transform literacy and language outcomes for English learners (ELs), with a special focus on serving 3rd – 5th graders with or at risk for being identified with a disability. Specifically, the goals of our project are to: (1) improve the literacy outcomes for ELs with or at-risk for being identified with a disability, and (2) create a repeatable and sustainable model of culturally and linguistically responsive instruction that can be overlaid across all tiers of instructional support within a multi-tiered system of supports. As one of three model demonstration sites funded by the federal Office of Special Education Programs, Project LEE is collaborating with o.
What it reported doing in 2025
Work with at risk students and paroles to help them reestablish
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 98% 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 program spending has grown recently. A relatively small share of voting board members are independent and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 56
- Transparency & Controls: 90
- Accountability: 0
- Sustainability: 26
- Growth: 80
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 63%; rating input score 63
- Program expense ratio: 61.7%; rating input score 62
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: Limited
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: Limited
- Major donor itemization: Limited
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 0%; rating input score 0; 8th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 0 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 0
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
- Whistleblower policy: Fail
- Document-retention policy: Fail
- CEO compensation review process: Fail
- Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
- Board meeting minutes documented: Fail
- Audit committee oversight: Missing
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -2.1%; rating input score 31; 31st percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.09; rating input score 6; 6th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 77; 77th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 32.8%; rating input score 9; 9th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 4.8% per year; rating input score 100; 50th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 13.7% per year; rating input score 100; 78th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: -7% per year; rating input score 0; 8th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: Mission, programs, and operating context captured from the official website.
- Where the money goes: 63% of revenue deployed · 61.7% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 0 of 7 board members independent · 0 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $202K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $66K · 6 people listed
- Consistency: 16 of 16 current checks pass
- Schedules: 2 filed schedules
- Filing history: 4 filing years from 2012 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 3 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.
- High — Accountability: Independent voting board scored 0/100.
- High — Accountability: Governance controls: 7 of 7 not reported.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 31/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 6/100.
- High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 9/100.