Sparrow

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
301210825
IRS 990 coverage
2020–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024, Form 990-N 2021
Location
Corvallis, OR, USA
Phone
5417533334
Rating
82
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Christianity
Affiliation
Christianity

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$208,264
Expenses
$218,767
Assets
$2,450,890
Liabilities
$605,502

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

Leadership & pay

5 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Andrew Wenger 7124-63025 (President)

People named in this filing

  • Andrew Wenger 7124-63025 (President)
  • Scott Fairbanks 7124-63025 (Secretary)
  • Brenda Deneui 42625-63025 (Treasurer)

Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.

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

Overview

Mission

We at Sparrow believe God values every human life and we work to express this in practical ways. Two ways we express this are through our homeless family transformation program and by providing affordable housing. Sparrow delivers these two services through separate branches with separate leadership that each operates under the Sparrow umbrella. The desire shared by both branches is to help the disadvantaged in their local communities and provide them an avenue to physically and practically help the people in need.

What it reported doing in 2024

Ministries Program Service: Sparrow provides participants in this program with a temporary home to live in for the duration of their stay in our program approximately 12 months. Upon acceptance into our program, participants are assigned a home and a host church family. These homes are provided, by churches that partnerwith us, to give families a stepping stone as they work to pull themselves up out of their difficult situations. As a part of this program, Sparrow partners with C.H.A.N.C.E. and The Hive Church Inc. in the Corvallis, Oregon area to provide struggling families with resources targeting their areas of need. These resources can include: financial help and instruction, individual and/or family counseling, parenting classes, classes on healthy relationships and boundaries, and childcare services based on the specific needs of each family. Resources are provided to each family on a case-by-case basis as the peer support, the church mentor, and the participating family agree are needed for each family to reach their goals. These resources help participating families save money toward getting into a home of their own as a part of completing the program. During this fiscal filing year, Sparrow helped 2 families move forward in becoming financially stable.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 86% 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

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and revenue has declined or grown slowly.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 85
  • Transparency & Controls: 90
  • Accountability: 76
  • Sustainability: 50
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 98.4%; rating input score 98
  • Program expense ratio: 93.2%; rating input score 93
  • 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: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 3 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 43
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -5%; rating input score 29; 29th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 11.2; rating input score 90; 90th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.25; rating input score 18; 18th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 69; 69th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 27.3% per year; rating input score 100; 89th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -56.7% per year; rating input score 0; 1st percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 1.4% per year; rating input score 100; 30th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 98.4% of revenue deployed · 93.2% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 4 of 4 board members independent · 3 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $204K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 5 people listed
  • Consistency: 22 of 22 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 5 filing years from 2020 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • 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.

  • Moderate — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 6 not reported.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 29/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 18/100.