Good Samaritan

Legal name: The Evangelical Lutheran Good Samaritan Society

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
450228055
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2024
Official website data refreshed
Sep 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024
Location
Sioux Falls, SD, USA
Phone
6053623100
Rating
80
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Supportive Housing for Older Adults
Affiliation
Christianity

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$1,014,495,873
Expenses
$948,045,656
Assets
$970,388,128
Liabilities
$159,930,299

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

37 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • BILL GASSEN (TRUSTEE, PRESIDENT & CEO (BEG 6/24))
  • NATHAN SCHEMA (PRESIDENT & CEO, GSS)

Highest reported compensation

  • BILL GASSEN (TRUSTEE, PRESIDENT & CEO (BEG 6/24)): $4,999,360 total reported compensation
  • MATT HOCKS (DIRECTOR (END 5/24)): $3,074,978 total reported compensation
  • SCOTT WOOTEN (TREASURER (END 4/24)): $2,576,428 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

To care, comfort and cure. Our Vision To be the premier rural health system in the United States. Our Values. Serving through our mission Since the first days of our organization’s founding, we’ve lived a simple mission: In Christ’s Love, Everyone Is Someone. This mission is our focus in every community we serve. We encourage our locations to reach out and help meet the needs of their communities and beyond. Good Samaritan is an affiliate of Sanford Health. Sanford Health is the largest and fastest-growing nonprofit rural health system in the U.S. dedicated to the work of health and healing. The Good Samaritan team The heart of our organization has always been people. Our team consists of caregivers, leaders, volunteers and supporters, all of who believe in our mission. Together, we’re committed to sharing God’s love through the work of health, healing and comfort.

What it reported doing in 2024

Home health services - the evangelical lutheran good samaritan society offers licensed home health care, hospice and services@home (private duty) services in 18 states. These agencies provide skilled health care in a client's home. Skilled care includes professional nursing care, home health aide assistance, social services and therapists to meet the skilled-medical needs of the client. We provide clinical supervision and treatment for the person on a short-term or intermittent basis to meet his or her medical and personal needs.the licensed hospice agencies and general inpatient unit provided services including physician, professional nurse, medical social worker, chaplain, bereavement service, home health aide, volunteers and therapy as directed by the patient's care plan. The compassionate, loving care at the end of a person's life provides the patient and their families with the support and care needed to meet the goals of care.services@home, our private duty agencies, tailors services to support seniors, which allows them the choice to remain home while receiving the compassionate care and services needed. These services include meal preparation, housekeeping, companionship, personal hygiene and grooming, bathing, exercise, respite care, memory care, transportation, appointment escort, medication reminders and more.

Operating model

Revenue model
Other-operating. 98% of the money available for current operations came from other operating revenue.
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

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Few specific pay-setting methods are documented in the filing; unanswered boxes are not proof of absence and the filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 93
  • Transparency & Controls: 64
  • Accountability: 81
  • Sustainability: 60
  • Growth: 80

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 92.6%; rating input score 93
  • Program expense ratio: 90.5%; rating input score 91
  • Fundraising efficiency: $18,419.93 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 99; 99th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 68th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 0 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 0
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Missing
  • Foreign activity oversight: Scored; rating input score 0
  • Grant itemization coverage: 99.8%; rating input score 100; 45th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Yes; rating input score 100

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 66.7%; rating input score 67; 19th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 9 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 100
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: Pass
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 6.6%; rating input score 62; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.02; rating input score 40; 40th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.16; rating input score 74; 74th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0.3%; rating input score 89; 89th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 1.6% per year; rating input score 100; 13th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 0.4% per year; rating input score 100; 6th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -2.4% per year; rating input score 0; 4th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 3 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
  • Where the money goes: 92.6% of revenue deployed · 90.5% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 8 of 12 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $858.2M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $5M · 37 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $18.9M reported
  • Consistency: 38 of 38 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 9 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, grants, executive pay, and related organizations
  • Filing history: 14 filing years from 2010 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 5 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 45 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.

Grant-readiness screening is separate from the live rating, not a measure of program quality. Review the source records before making a grant decision.

  • High — Transparency & Controls: Pay-setting controls scored 0/100.
  • High — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 40/100.
  • High — Grant Readiness: Federal audit findings: this organization reported findings in its latest federal Single Audit.