Why Not Charleston

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
821949955
IRS 990-EZ coverage
2017–2025
Forms available
Form 990-EZ 2025
Location
Mt Pleasant, SC, USA
Phone
8434108568
Rating
82
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Christianity
Affiliation
Christianity

Reported finances

Revenue
$89,014
Expenses
$58,213
Assets
$49,680
Liabilities
$0

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

Leadership & pay

3 people listed

People named in this filing

  • KATHERINE LEWIS (DIRECTOR)
  • BRETT THOMAS (CHARIMAN)
  • BRANDON HOFFMAN (TREASURER)

Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.

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

Overview

Mission

Why not charleston is committed to supporting people discover, develop, and deploy their gifts and resources to strengthen the influence of the gospel in our city, charleston, sc. Our mission is to see a city renewed by a gospel-rich lifestyle. We fulfill this mission by connecting believers with a common desire to reach and serve their communities. We feel that the greatest way to share the benefits of a gospel-rich lifestyle with our community is by educating families in how to look to an use the gospel as a guide in building strong families and by connecting churches within the community with teachers in our schools as a way to facilitate those churches desire to support the teachers in their efforts to educate the children of our community.

What it reported doing in 2025

Firestarters - a firestarter is a woman of god who professes her faith with fierce precision. When you come to a firestarters gathering, you can expect a rigorous and engaging experience. Gatherings provide an opportunity to have a personal confrontation with the word of god in order to assume your proper position in christ. From marriage, to parenting, to a monthly discussion on god's vision for your personal ministry, firestarters come together to be strengthened and to go back out to serve and minister stronger and brighter in their fire for god.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 100% 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 total spending goes to programs. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 68
  • Transparency & Controls: 100
  • Sustainability: 66
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 56.7%; rating input score 57
  • Program expense ratio: 86.7%; rating input score 87

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 51st percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 34.6%; rating input score 83; 83rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.85; rating input score 43; 43rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 66; 66th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 56; 56th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 14% per year; rating input score 100; 76th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 9.5% per year; rating input score 100; 79th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 7.4% per year; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 56.7% of revenue deployed · 86.7% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: Filed governance answers
  • Accomplishments: 4 filed program accomplishments · $50K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 3 people listed
  • Consistency: 8 of 8 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 9 filing years from 2017 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: Resolved incoming and outgoing counterparties from filed money flows.
  • 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 — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 57/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 43/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 56/100.