The Bread of Life Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
562053857
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2019
Location
Brevard, NC, USA
Phone
8288773577
Rating
73
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Food Banks, Pantries

Reported finances

Revenue
$1,524,877
Expenses
$486,967
Assets
$2,262,770
Liabilities
$167,460

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

Leadership & pay

7 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Paul Komar (Vice President)
  • Jann Mellman (President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Sergio Fernandez (Exective Director): $81,436 total reported compensation
  • Paula Wesley (Finance Manager): $42,510 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Community kitchen and emergency pantry

What it reported doing in 2025

A free community kitchen where meals are prepared and served or delivered to the homeless, financially needy, elderly and all those in need in Transylvania County, NC

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 96% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
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: 55
  • Transparency & Controls: 86
  • Accountability: 84
  • Sustainability: 75
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 29.2%; rating input score 29
  • Program expense ratio: 85%; rating input score 85
  • Fundraising efficiency: $196.99 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 91; 91st percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 91.7%; rating input score 92; 15th 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: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 5 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 62
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 68.1%; rating input score 95; 95th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 4.65; rating input score 83; 83rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.07; rating input score 38; 38th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 25.5%; rating input score 11; 11th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 20% per year; rating input score 100; 79th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 15.5% per year; rating input score 100; 75th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 15.1% per year; rating input score 100; 69th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 29.2% of revenue deployed · 85% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 5 of 5 board members independent · 5 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $414K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $81K · 7 people listed
  • Consistency: 23 of 24 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 9 filing years from 2010 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 4 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
  • 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 — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 29/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 7 not reported.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 11/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 38/100.