Star of Hope Mission
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 741152599
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2010–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025
- Location
- Houston, TX, USA
- Phone
- 7134405337
- Rating
- 83
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Homeless Shelters
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $11,695,723
- Expenses
- $15,759,381
- Assets
- $71,138,835
- Liabilities
- $8,482,162
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
30 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- HENRY L RUSH JR (PRESIDENT EMERITUS THROUGH 1/31/2025)
- DOUGLAS E MEIKLE (PRESIDENT & CEO)
People named in this filing
- MICHAEL BAHORICH (CHAIRMAN)
- GREGORY BUZZ BAKER (TRUSTEE)
- LAURIE ROBINSON (TRUSTEE)
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 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Star of hope's mission is to mobilize our city in service of those facing homelessness so that, together, we lift-up our neighbors and create a sustainable future for all. Our services to single men are carried out at our men's development center, and our services to single women and single-parent families are performed at the women and family development center at cornerstone community, a 48-acre collaborative campus. This campus, anchored by the 500+ bed women and family development center (wfdc), is also populated by other nonprofit organizations that provide permanent supportive housing, job readiness, training and after school programs for children. The mission will continue development of the wfdc campus in future years as community support is secured to support expansion.
What it reported doing in 2025
The women & family development center (wfdc) at cornerstone community is a campus like facility with housing for over 500, providing emergency shelter and life-recovery services for single women and single-parent families at various stages of self-sufficiency, which began operation in august 2017. Services provided include a medical clinic, a state-licensed daycare and pre-school, a teen program focusing on education and healthy living patterns and transition to college, a computer learning center, work force development and education to help set and achieve employment goals and independent living and referrals and assistance to secure permanent housing. Particular attention is given to providing stability to homeless children, including enrolling them in public schools and providing volunteer tutors to help them regain lost ground. Between january to june 2025, wfdc served 729 adults and 597 children, providing 79,295 nights of lodging and 133,651 meals. In addition, the workforce development team assisted 34 individuals in finding employment in 2025.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 82% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The filing allocates 96% 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
STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and expenses are high relative to revenue.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 82
- Transparency & Controls: 89
- Accountability: 100
- Sustainability: 42
- Growth: 20
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
- Program expense ratio: 75.9%; rating input score 76
- Fundraising efficiency: $4.59 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 12; 12th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 94.4%; rating input score 94; 25th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: Limited
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 76th percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Limited
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 7 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 100
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- 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: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -34.7%; rating input score 2; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 4.51; rating input score 76; 76th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.12; rating input score 63; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 96; 96th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: -0.1% per year; rating input score 0; 10th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: -1.7% per year; rating input score 0; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 2.8% per year; rating input score 100; 19th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 75.9% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 24 of 24 board members independent · 7 of 7 filing controls reported
- Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $12M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 30 people listed
- Consistency: 37 of 38 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes grants
- Filing history: 15 filing years from 2010 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: Resolved incoming and outgoing counterparties from filed money flows.
- 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.
- 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 — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 12/100.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 2/100.
- High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
- High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
- Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.