Purpose Institute
Legal name: Purpose Institute Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 043615764
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2017–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Aug 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Canton, OH, USA
- Phone
- (800) 735-9756
- Rating
- 78
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Christianity
- Affiliation
- Christianity
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $907,937
- Expenses
- $946,654
- Assets
- $55,943
- Liabilities
- $8,840
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
11 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- FINIS JOE ELLIS (President)
Highest reported compensation
- BRIAN MICHAEL (Director of Campuses): $38,698 total reported compensation
- FINIS JOE ELLIS (President): $28,779 total reported compensation
- DR JAMES LITTLES (Director of Academics): $12,450 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
The vision of Purpose Institute is to make Apostolic training available anywhere in the world, enabling workers to discover purpose and develop ministry skills. Its mission is to develop multilingual curriculum and operating systems that will assist local leaders in equipping ministry workers in their respective fields.
What it reported doing in 2024
Training in ministerial studies adn leadership provided to pastors and minsters. PI has approximately 100 campuses in 16 nations and 26 US states serving nearly 800 students.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
- 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
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: 81
- Transparency & Controls: 100
- Accountability: 55
- Sustainability: 21
- Growth: 80
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 92.4%; rating input score 92
- Program expense ratio: 88.7%; rating input score 89
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
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: Limited
- Major donor itemization: Limited
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 54.5%; rating input score 55; 12th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 5 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 56
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Fail
- Document-retention policy: Fail
- CEO compensation review process: Pass
- 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: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -4.3%; rating input score 25; 25th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.06; rating input score 3; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.16; rating input score 35; 35th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 10.4%; rating input score 35; 35th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 16.7% per year; rating input score 100; 78th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 11.9% per year; rating input score 100; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: -7.9% per year; rating input score 0; 4th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: Mission, programs, and operating context captured from the official website.
- Where the money goes: 92.4% of revenue deployed · 88.7% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 6 of 11 board members independent · 5 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $839K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $39K · 11 people listed
- Consistency: 24 of 24 current checks pass
- Schedules: 4 filed schedules
- Filing history: 8 filing years from 2017 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 5 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 — Accountability: Independent voting board scored 55/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 4 of 9 not reported.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 25/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 3/100.
- High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 35/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 35/100.