The Upstream Collective
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 262323938
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2021–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2020
- Location
- Louisville, KY, USA
- Phone
- 502.265.6026
- Rating
- 75
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Christianity
- Affiliation
- Christianity
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $1,728,841
- Expenses
- $1,354,932
- Assets
- $788,032
- Liabilities
- $9,368
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
10 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- NATHAN SLOAN (VICE PRESIDENT)
- LARRY MCCRARY (PRESIDENT)
Highest reported compensation
- NATHAN SLOAN (VICE PRESIDENT): $92,812 total reported compensation
- BRAD BELL (SECRETARY): $89,637 total reported compensation
- LARRY MCCRARY (PRESIDENT): $85,364 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
We are a missions organization with one vision—to help churches send well. We equip the church with practical tools and relational support (resources, books, cohorts, coaching, and training) and we send the church as a missions agency that prioritizes relationships, keeping the local church central in every step of sending and missions engagement.
What it reported doing in 2024
Upstream collective, along with a dozen churches, have come together to build a new type of sending organization, one that intentionally takes a back seat so that local churches can lead the way in sending their people to the nations. The church sends. We help.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 80% 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 a large share of available resources goes toward mission work. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 68
- Transparency & Controls: 92
- Accountability: 64
- Sustainability: 54
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 60.5%; rating input score 61
- Program expense ratio: 77%; rating input score 77
- Fundraising efficiency: $52.97 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 79; 79th 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: 70%; rating input score 70; 15th 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: 21.6%; rating input score 78; 78th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.58; rating input score 27; 27th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.01; rating input score 67; 67th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 19.8%; rating input score 15; 15th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 54.9% per year; rating input score 100; 96th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 29.4% per year; rating input score 100; 92nd percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 32.1% per year; rating input score 100; 92nd percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 1 operating location identified
- Where the money goes: 60.5% of revenue deployed · 77% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 7 of 10 board members independent · 5 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $1M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $93K · 10 people listed
- Consistency: 31 of 31 current checks pass
- Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 4 filing years from 2021 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 6 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.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 8 not reported.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 27/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 15/100.