The Light Foundation
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 813061830
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2016–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024
- Location
- Saint Louis, MO, USA
- Phone
- 3142873633
- Rating
- 75
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Standard
- Sector
- Youth Development – Religious Leadership
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $490,959
- Expenses
- $901,758
- Assets
- $1,866,702
- Liabilities
- $6,631
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
6 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- ROBERT COCKERHAM (PRESIDENT)
- STACIA COCKERHAM (VICE PRESIDENT)
- SHARON MISTRETTA (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)
Highest reported compensation
- SHARON MISTRETTA (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $84,876 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
The mission of the organization is to create a generation of successful youth by providing life-changing opportunities.
What it reported doing in 2024
Ritecare - the light foundation collaborates with the national, state and regional ritecare programs that provide free language and literacy therapy to at risk youth with significant communication challenges. The foundation actively engages in this program through philanthropic event management, staff creation of mission marketing (mission awareness), creation and management of state website (moritecare.org) which educates and supports the Missouri ritecare program, staff creation of promotional videos and social media messaging to support active campaign and mission awareness, income to support services and create national and statewide mission advancement and promotion. In 2023, the light foundation philanthropically hosted the benefit golf outing.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 61% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The filing allocates 88% 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 fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 85
- Transparency & Controls: 87
- Accountability: 55
- Sustainability: 29
- Growth: 40
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
- Program expense ratio: 82.3%; rating input score 82
- Fundraising efficiency: $3.77 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 17; 17th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 93.3%; rating input score 93; 26th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: Limited
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: 66.4%; rating input score 66; 45th percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 40%; rating input score 40; 15th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 6 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 75
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: Pass
- 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: -83.7%; rating input score 3; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.07; rating input score 60; 60th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 52; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 9.4%; rating input score 29; 29th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 15.2% per year; rating input score 100; 79th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: -32.1% per year; rating input score 0; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: -8.3% per year; rating input score 0; 7th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 82.3% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 2 of 5 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $742K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $85K · 6 people listed
- Consistency: 34 of 35 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
- Filing history: 8 filing years from 2016 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 5 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 4 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.
Key Signals
Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.
- Moderate — Accountability: Independent voting board scored 40/100.
- High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 17/100.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 3/100.
- High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
- High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
- Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 29/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 52/100.