Sunlight Foundation Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
720680573
IRS 990 coverage
2012–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Lake Charles, LA, USA
Phone
3378423549
Rating
66
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Affiliation
Christianity

Reported finances

Revenue
$275,139
Expenses
$23,194
Assets
$3,735,089
Liabilities
$20,059

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

Leadership & pay

9 people listed

People named in this filing

  • MARK G MITCHELL (DIRECTOR)
  • FRANK W JEFFERSON (SEC./TRES/DI)
  • FRANKIE AUGHT (DIRECTOR)

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

Sunlight foundation, inc. (the "corporation"), a non-profit corporation organized under the laws of the state of Louisiana and having its domicile in calcasieu parish, represented herein by and appearing through its duly authorized president, mark g. Michell.

What it reported doing in 2025

The corporation may do and perform all acts reasonably necessary to accomplish the purposes of the corporation. The corporation may enter into any kind of activity to perform and carry out contracts of any kind necessary to, in connection with or incidental to the accomplishment of the purposes of the corporation. The corporation may provide financial and other support to new sunlight baptist church of Louisiana, a Louisiana non-profit corporation (the "church"), including, withour limitation, the donation of money and/or other property to the church.

Operating model

Revenue model
Investment-supported. 100% of the money available for current operations came from recurring investment income.
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 - The filed numbers largely add up and most voting board members are independent. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 53
  • Transparency & Controls: 90
  • Accountability: 64
  • Sustainability: 89
  • Growth: 20

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 36.5%; rating input score 36
  • Program expense ratio: 100%; rating input score 100
  • 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; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 1 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 14
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • 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: 91.6%; rating input score 99; 99th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 161.04; rating input score 100; 100th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.01; rating input score 44; 44th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 67; 67th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -20.8% per year; rating input score 0; 6th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -12.7% per year; rating input score 0; 4th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 8.4% per year; rating input score 100; 58th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 36.5% of revenue deployed · 100% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 5 of 5 board members independent · 1 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $23K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 9 people listed
  • Consistency: 12 of 12 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 1 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 12 filing years from 2012 to 2025
  • 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 — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 36/100.
  • High — Accountability: Governance controls: 5 of 6 not reported.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 44/100.