WaterStone Real Estate Foundation

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
853458068
IRS 990 coverage
2020–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Colorado Springs, CO, USA
Rating
61
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Community Foundations
Affiliation
Christianity

Reported finances

Revenue
$6,822,755
Expenses
$343,005
Assets
$31,696,386
Liabilities
$61,654

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

Leadership & pay

5 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Ken Harrison (CEO)
  • Rich Lavinski (Vice President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Ken Harrison (CEO): $558,577 total reported compensation
  • Richard von Gnechten (Director): $345,654 total reported compensation
  • Chris Start (Treasurer): $302,530 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Encourage and Facilitate Donors to Achieve Christ-Centered Objectives by Providing Excellence in Personalized Charitable Giving Services and Education Resources

What it reported doing in 2024

The Foundation is organized and operated to support the Christian Community Foundation DBA WaterStone and other public charities whose work furthers WaterStone's purpose by receiving and managing charitable contributions to support those ministries.

Operating model

Revenue model
Affiliate-supported. 93% of the money available for current operations came from contributions from related organizations.
Distribution model
Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 72% for direct work, and 28% for grants.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - The filed numbers largely add up and most voting board members are independent. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and few specific pay-setting methods are documented in the filing; unanswered boxes are not proof of absence.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 34
  • Transparency & Controls: 65
  • Accountability: 91
  • Sustainability: 87
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 4.8%; rating input score 5
  • Program expense ratio: 95.3%; rating input score 95
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd 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: 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; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 7 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 78
    • 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: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 95%; rating input score 99; 99th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 92.41; rating input score 99; 99th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 91; 91st percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 28.6%; rating input score 6; 6th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 2.8% per year; rating input score 100; 26th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 25.5% per year; rating input score 100; 92nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 42.4% per year; rating input score 100; 97th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 4.8% of revenue deployed · 95.3% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 4 of 4 board members independent · 7 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $327K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $559K · 5 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 22 of 22 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 4 filing years from 2020 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Related organizations: 14 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.

  • High — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 5/100.
  • High — Transparency & Controls: Pay-setting controls scored 0/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 9 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 6/100.