Trellis
Legal name: Trellis International
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 475324236
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2016–2025
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025
- Location
- Costa Mesa, CA, USA
- Phone
- 9494225331
- Rating
- 80
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Standard
- Sector
- Christianity
- Affiliation
- Christianity
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $1,083,541
- Expenses
- $1,150,485
- Assets
- $227,549
- Liabilities
- $54,325
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
7 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- IAN STEVENSON (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)
Highest reported compensation
- IAN STEVENSON (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $91,991 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
To facilitate collaboration around the practical, relational, and spiritual challenges in a city by stimulating, encouraging, and supporting city catalysts and the movements they are leading. Prior to joining Trellis full-time, Ian was a pastor at The Crossing Church in Costa Mesa, California, where he became the second full-time staff member, in 1989. Ian and his wife Terrilee have been married since 1986, with three grown children and seven grandchildren. They provide unconditional support and guidance for the Trellis team, as well as their adorable little encouragers. In their free time, the two enjoy riding motorcycles or e-bikes, hiking, back packing and working out. ISABEL CARPENTER.
What it reported doing in 2025
To faciliate collaboraion around the practical, relational & spiritual challenges in a city.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 67% 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 - The filed numbers largely add up and a large share of available resources goes toward mission work. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 72
- Transparency & Controls: 100
- Accountability: 76
- Sustainability: 19
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 77.2%; rating input score 77
- Program expense ratio: 72.7%; rating input score 73
- Fundraising efficiency: $14.04 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 45; 45th 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: 85.7%; rating input score 86; 23rd 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: Pass
- Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Missing
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -6.2%; rating input score 17; 17th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.2; rating input score 10; 10th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.24; rating input score 23; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 8%; rating input score 43; 43rd percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 30.8% per year; rating input score 100; 89th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 15.2% per year; rating input score 100; 75th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 20.1% per year; rating input score 100; 79th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: Mission, programs, and operating context captured from the official website.
- Where the money goes: 77.2% of revenue deployed · 72.7% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 6 of 7 board members independent · 5 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $836K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $92K · 7 people listed
- Consistency: 24 of 24 current checks pass
- Schedules: 3 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 10 filing years from 2016 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
- 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.
- Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 45/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 7 not reported.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 17/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 10/100.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 23/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 43/100.