The Life House Women's Shelter Inc C/O Courtney Denton

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
863367602
IRS 990 coverage
2022–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Rock Hill, SC, USA
Phone
8035980476
Rating
86
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Homeless Shelters

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$924,822
Expenses
$979,233
Assets
$3,242,517
Liabilities
$78,904

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

Leadership & pay

9 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Courtney Denton (Executive Director)

Highest reported compensation

  • Courtney Denton (Executive Director): $45,000 total reported compensation
  • Kristen Easler (Operations Manager): $31,000 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Safe Shelter - The LHWS provides unhoused single women and unhoused women with children safe shelter by providing onsite security at all three shelter locations. Keeping these shelters up to date with their proprety maintenance and basic utilities. When shelters are at full capacity, the LHWS uses hotel vouchers to keep unhoused women and their children out of the weather elements. In 2025, 214 women and 38 Children were sheltered. 35 women were moved into rental properties. Case Management provides a continuum of care is in a 30-60-90 day plan that includes: meals, acquiring identification and social security cards, accessing physical & mental health care, obtaining GED/education, completing resumes and job applications, securing employment, saving money, and research and assistance in acquiring housing. The LHWS helps to remove barriers including transportation, car care, day care and housing fees.

What it reported doing in 2025

Safe Shelter - The Life House provides unhoused single women and unhoused women with children safe shelter by providing onsite security at all 3 shelter locations keeping shelters up to date with property maintenance and providing basic utilities. In 2025 214 women and 38 children were sheltered and 35 women moved into rental properties. There were 21,600 nightly stays.Meals - The LH works to ensure that women and children have three meals per day. This is done through partnerships with two soup kitchens in town, a food pantry agency, and community partnerships. When there are gaps of coverage for meals, the LH has a budget to cover the needs.Case Management Client Care - When providing shelther and case management, the LH is starting homeless women on the continuum of care. Upon intake woemnt begin a 30-60-90 day plan that includes but is not limited to: acquiring ID and social security card, mental and physical health care, assistance with obtaining their GED or additional education, preparing resumes and job applications, security employment, saving money, and researching and applying for housing. We prevent barriers including transportation, emergency needs, car repairs, day care and fee assistance along their pay to being housed.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 92% 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

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and program spending has declined or grown slowly.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 96
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 82
  • Sustainability: 42
  • Growth: 20

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 99.2%; rating input score 99
  • Program expense ratio: 93.6%; rating input score 94
  • Fundraising efficiency: $95.51 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 84; 84th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd 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 9 controls in place; rating input score 56
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Fail
    • 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: -5.9%; rating input score 18; 18th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 3.31; rating input score 77; 77th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.02; rating input score 51; 51st percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 7.8%; rating input score 44; 44th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -1.5% per year; rating input score 0; 12th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -26.4% per year; rating input score 0; 1st percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 28.3% per year; rating input score 100; 88th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 99.2% of revenue deployed · 93.6% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 7 of 7 board members independent · 5 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $917K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $45K · 9 people listed
  • Consistency: 25 of 25 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 4 filing years from 2022 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
  • 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.

  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 8 not reported.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 18/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 44/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 51/100.