St John's Lutheran Church Endowment Foundation Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
391570139
IRS 990 coverage
2017–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Madison, WI, USA
Phone
6082562337
Rating
79
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Affiliation
Christianity

Reported finances

Revenue
$224,827
Expenses
$69,077
Assets
$1,142,568
Liabilities
$0

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

6 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • THOMAS HILGER (PRESIDENT)
  • GARY STEINHAUER (VICE-PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • REV PETER BEESON (TRUSTEE): $89,586 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Provide grant funds to support religious, charitable, and educational services and programs.

What it reported doing in 2025

St. John's lutheran church: funds of the foundation will be expended to finance the development of denominational and/or inter-denominational projects of st. John's lutheran church. Provided, however, that the foundation funds shall not be applied to meet the operating budget of st. John's lutheran church. It may also consider assistance of ministry affairs, mission enterprises, special property expenditures and any other special needs in furtherance of lasting religious endeavors.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 69% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Grant intermediary. The nonprofit sent 100% of its reported program spending out as grants.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - 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 reported officer compensation is a large share of total spending, which may reflect staffing concentration.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 76
  • Transparency & Controls: 93
  • Accountability: 60
  • Sustainability: 82
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 78.6%; rating input score 79
  • Program expense ratio: 95.5%; rating input score 96
  • 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: 98.5%; rating input score 98; 60th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 83.3%; rating input score 83; 24th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 2 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 29
    • 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: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 69.3%; rating input score 96; 96th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 16.54; rating input score 94; 94th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 77; 77th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 62.2%; rating input score 2; 2nd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 9.2% per year; rating input score 100; 65th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 14.8% per year; rating input score 100; 80th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 4.8% per year; rating input score 100; 43rd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 78.6% of revenue deployed · 95.5% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 5 of 6 board members independent · 2 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $66K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $90K · 6 people listed
  • Consistency: 13 of 13 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
  • Filing history: 9 filing years from 2017 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • Related organizations: 2 filed related-organization links
  • 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: Governance controls: 4 of 6 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 2/100.