Southern Mutual Church Insurance Company
Legal name: Southern Mutual Church Insurance Co
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 570251155
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2010–2025
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025
- Location
- Columbia, SC, United States
- Phone
- 803.776.9365; 800.922.5332
- Rating
- 77
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Insurance Providers
- Affiliation
- Christianity
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $71,997,103
- Expenses
- $70,635,579
- Assets
- $81,088,132
- Liabilities
- $54,073,007
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
18 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- ROBERT A BATES (PRESIDENT/CE)
Highest reported compensation
- ROBERT A BATES (PRESIDENT/CE): $447,782 total reported compensation
- MARK M KESSER (COO): $200,772 total reported compensation
- RONALD E HEAD (CFO): $196,836 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Our Mission is to build long-term relationships with our church policyholders, business partners and employees through quality insurance products, trusted services and a caring business culture. Our focus is not only on providing insurance coverage, but also in helping churches be wise stewards of the resources God has entrusted them. Through education, risk management services and personal services, we seek to strengthen and support ministries long before a loss ever occurs. But should that day come, we seek to respond. While the world around us continues to change, our mission remains remarkably consistent with the vision of our founders nearly a century ago. We will continue to adapt and grow to meet the evolving needs of today’s churches; while remaining steadfast to our commitment to serve you faithfully so you can stay focused on the calling God has placed on you. Robert Bates.
What it reported doing in 2025
Minimal service fees related to premium payment plans. Revenue recognized as program service revenue in part viii with no associated allocated expenses. The company also provides an annual inspection program and safety instructions for each member church as a service to help mitigate losses and protect property and people. This is a free service and no associated revenue or expenses have been allocated. The company provides educational workshops and training programs as a service to help mitigate losses and protect property and people. This a free service and no associated revenue or expenses have been allocated. Expenses 0. Including grants of 0. Revenue 165,469.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Earned-program. 98% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
- 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.
The verdict
SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and most voting board members are independent. Few specific pay-setting methods are documented in the filing; unanswered boxes are not proof of absence and expenses are high relative to revenue.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 86
- Transparency & Controls: 60
- Accountability: 90
- Sustainability: 38
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 95.5%; rating input score 95
- Program expense ratio: 100%; rating input score 100
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 66th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 0 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 0
- Compensation committee: Missing
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
- Written employment contract: Missing
- Compensation survey or study: Missing
- Board or committee approval: Missing
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: Limited
- Major donor itemization: Limited
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 90.9%; rating input score 91; 20th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 8 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 89
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Fail
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: Pass
- Other executive compensation review process: Pass
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 1.9%; rating input score 42; 42nd percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.15; rating input score 32; 32nd percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.67; rating input score 24; 24th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 2.5%; rating input score 52; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 8.6% per year; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 6.2% per year; rating input score 100; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 5.4% per year; rating input score 100; 39th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 1 programs and campaigns described on the official site
- Where the money goes: 95.5% of revenue deployed · 100% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 10 of 11 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $70.6M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $448K · 18 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Consistency: 32 of 32 current checks pass
- Schedules: 3 filed schedules · includes executive pay
- Filing history: 16 filing years from 2010 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 18 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.
- Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.
Key Signals
Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.
- High — Transparency & Controls: Pay-setting controls scored 0/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 42/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 32/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Whistleblower policy not reported.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 24/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 52/100.