Teaching Like Jesus Ministries, Inc
Legal name: Teaching Like Jesus Ministries Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 954855689
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2017–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-N 2016
- Location
- Los Angeles, CA, USA
- Phone
- 3232162551
- Rating
- 63
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Protestant
- Affiliation
- Christianity
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $124,065
- Expenses
- $103,383
- Assets
- $-20,193
- Liabilities
- $0
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
9 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- La Verne Tolbert (CEO President)
- Ben Espinoza (Vice-President)
People named in this filing
- La Verne Tolbert (CEO President)
- Odette Kahwajian (Director of Outreach)
- Ben Espinoza (Vice-President)
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
TLJM equips leaders in the local church with interactive seminars and teacher-training workshops to evaluate and enhance spiritual formation ministries for all learners (children, teens, and adults), so everyone is “Teaching Like Jesus!”. Welcome to TLJM, Teaching Like Jesus Ministries! We equip leaders in the local church with interactive seminars and teacher-training workshops. We consult with pastors, parents, and CE directors to evaluate and enhance spiritual formation ministries for all learners—children, teens, and adults—so that everyone is ** _Teaching Like Jesus_**! With years of experience teaching seminary courses and developing educational ministries in the local church, TLJM might be the answer you've been praying for because "A church without children is a dying church!" Blessings, La Verne Tolbert, Ph.D.
What it reported doing in 2024
The $30525 was received from the Urban Ministries Inc with office in 1551 Regency Court, Calumet City Illinois 60409 for Sunday School made simple. The $85000 was allocated for transportation, lodging and accomodation. The ministry offers leaders in inner-city Christian churches seminary-quality education, and resources to help them reach and teach the Bible effectively to all age groups. The ministry includes assisting pastors with implementing a foster-adoption program.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 70% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The filing allocates 99% 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 the filed numbers largely add up. A relatively small share of voting board members are independent and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 79
- Transparency & Controls: 83
- Accountability: 24
- Sustainability: 41
- Growth: 0
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 82.1%; rating input score 82
- Program expense ratio: 98.6%; rating input score 99
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 88.9%; rating input score 89; 5th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: Limited
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: Limited
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 0%; rating input score 0; 7th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 4 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 57
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
- 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: Missing
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 16.7%; rating input score 70; 70th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: -0.2; rating input score 0; 0th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: Limited
- Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 69; 69th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: -1.9% per year; rating input score 0; 24th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: -2.1% per year; rating input score 0; 16th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: Limited
Details
- What they do: Mission, programs, and operating context captured from the official website.
- Where the money goes: 82.1% of revenue deployed · 98.6% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 0 of 9 board members independent · 4 of 7 filing controls reported
- Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $102K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 9 people listed
- Consistency: 11 of 12 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 3 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 8 filing years from 2017 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.
- High — Accountability: Independent voting board scored 0/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 6 not reported.
- High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
- High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 0/100.