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California · Nonprofit

LEAD TO SERVE INC

LEAD TO SERVE INC (California) receives grants from 19 organizations whose IRS filings report $7,631,809 to it, the largest being NATL CHRISTIAN CHARITABLE FDN INC ($4,946,777). 11 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 77% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.

Revenue FY2024
$2.4M
Funders on record
19
Grants received
$7.6M
Net assets
$2.6M
11/19 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 64%
01What it does

What Lead to Serve Inc does

Mission

Provides training and other empowerment support activities for individuals, families, communities, and organizations.

As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.

Programs

  1. Enduring fruit identifies, trains, and empowers individuals and organizations globally to promote christian leadership and character skills, primarily through the use of sports and coaching activites. Grants to individuals and partner organizations were distributed and coordinated around the world.

    $1,368,373 spentof which $1,338,966 as grants
    62% of program spending
  2. Lead to serve is an international nonprofit organization focused on helping individuals, families, communities, and organizations achieve god's purpose for them. A traditional holistic approach is central to how lead to serve works to transform people and their social environments. Along with our several international projects and activities that we sponsor, we also provide 'fiscal sponsorship' types of activities for key partner organizations and individuals that are in alignment with lead to serve's core missions of community transformation and leadership training.

    $446,338 spentof which $436,745 as grants
    20% of program spending
  3. Church sports includes various initiatives directly supported by lead to serve. In 2024 the primary focus continued to be our 'the world needs a father' program where the organization provided training around the world. The training educates, equips and encourages men to step into their responsibilities as husbands and fathers.

    $248,702 spentof which $150,606 as grants$860 earned by the program
    11% of program spending
  4. African leadership institute for community transformation (alict) is a partner organization that serves young leaders, between the ages of 23-35, from across the world leading in any sector of society. They look for those who are committed to the christian faith and demonstrating community leadership or intentions towards creating healthy communities in all of their diversity/complexity.

    $131,123 spentof which $128,290 as grants
    6% of program spending

The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $2,194,536.

02The organization over time

The organization over time

Each line starts at 100 in 2017, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2017, 50 means half. The number beside each label in the key is where it ended. The shaded band is where the middle 50% of its peers' revenue would sit, given their growth.

100 = 20172017 Revenue 100 ($2.0M) Expenses 100 ($2.1M) Net assets 100 ($1.6M)2018 Revenue 83 ($1.6M) Expenses 73 ($1.6M) Net assets 106 ($1.6M)2019 Revenue 89 ($1.8M) Expenses 73 ($1.5M) Net assets 121 ($1.9M)2020 Revenue 88 ($1.8M) Expenses 57 ($1.2M) Net assets 155 ($2.4M)2021 Revenue 98 ($2.0M) Expenses 71 ($1.5M) Net assets 184 ($2.9M)2022 Revenue 85 ($1.7M) Expenses 97 ($2.1M) Net assets 159 ($2.5M)2023 Revenue 98 ($1.9M) Expenses 96 ($2.0M) Net assets 153 ($2.4M)2024 Revenue 122 ($2.4M) Expenses 104 ($2.2M) Net assets 166 ($2.6M)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
Revenue (122)Expenses (104)Net assets (166)Peer revenue range

Balance sheet

Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2019 to 2020, from $1.9M to $2.4M (+28%).

$1.6M
$1.6M
$1.9M
$2.4M
$2.9M
$2.5M
$2.4M
$2.6M
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
Total assetsTotal liabilities

How it's funded, over time

Each bar is one year's revenue split into where it came from, and every bar is the same height — these are shares, not amounts, so a year that raised twice as much looks the same size. Hover a bar for the split.

2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

96% of LEAD TO SERVE INC’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (90% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 2,735 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 of the last 8 reported years ran a deficit.

−$136k
’17
$92k
’18
$233k
’19
$529k
’20
$448k
’21
−$377k
’22
−$105k
’23
$210k
’24
14
months of
reserve

Leadership and staff

The officers, directors, trustees and key employees listed on each return. Joined and no longer listed compare each filing with the year before, matching people by surname and first initial; a year after a gap, or a roster under three people, has no comparison.

Board chair

Wayne Gordon

Chairman/secretary/CFO

As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.

2017201820192020202120222024
Listed5555556
Joined·+1+0+0+1+0·
No longer listed·10010·
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 5 funders to 7 funders, grant income fell $1.0M → $880k.

7 of 19 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 77% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.

From the IRS filings of LEAD TO SERVE INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Association, not causation. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.

How concentrated its funding is

LEAD TO SERVE INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 65% of grant income and the top three 82%; half comes from just 1 funder.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left

84% of the income these shares are computed over arrives through pass-through sponsors or from payers whose filings do not say what kind of payment it is. Concentration is still measured over all of it, because the money is real; what it does not support is a claim about how many institutions have chosen to fund LEAD TO SERVE INC.

65%
largest funder
82%
top three
~2
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 68% · 2018 75% · 2019 63% · 2020 57% · 2021 67% · 2022 69% · 2023 77% — growing more concentrated.

“Effective funders” = inverse Herfindahl index (1 / Σ shareᵢ²) — the number of equal-sized funders that would give the same concentration. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.

How long its funders stay

36% of LEAD TO SERVE INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 58% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y+3y+4y+5y+6y

Share of funders still giving k years after their first recorded grant, pooled across every acquisition cohort. A funder counts as retained in a year only if it made a grant that year. Measured to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving — a funder cannot be counted as lapsed in a year most filers have not reached.

Where its funders are

77% of LEAD TO SERVE INC's grant income arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors, whose addresses record where the money is held rather than where the donor is. Of the $1.8M that is directly attributable, 90% of it comes from funders outside California, across 6 states.

MI
IN
CA
TN
TX
FL

In-state vs out-of-state, by year

’17
’18
’19
’20
’21
’22
’23
California out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $5.8M arriving through sponsors registered in 7 states is excluded from the map and the split above: a sponsor holds money on a donor’s behalf, so its registered address would place those dollars somewhere no donor need ever have been. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.

04Its place in the field

Against its field

LEAD TO SERVE INC holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 2,394 religion nonprofits its size.

Operating margin9% · above the median
Months of reserve14.0mo · top quartile
Revenue growth (annualized)3% · bottom quartile

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 2,394 religion nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024

Organizations like LEAD TO SERVE INC

Organizations whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over every organization in the US filings — the closest peers, and often the clearest route to shared or prospective funders.

In California

Nationally

05Profile & governance

Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.

Where the money goes

99% of spending goes to programs.

Program 99%Management 1%Fundraising 0%

Governance

6
board members
67%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990✓Audited financials

Public support

93%

Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 1 state

CA

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for LEAD TO SERVE INC: IRS status (Business Master File, Publication 78, auto-revocation), the OFAC sanctions lists, the Internal Revenue Bulletin, and California registration, with the Rev. Proc. 2018-32 §8.01 reliance elements stated element by element. Generated from the current files at the moment you download it.

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Screens are triage, not determinations; a source that cannot be read reports not screened, never clear. Screen this nonprofit · How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf

Questions and answers

Who funds LEAD TO SERVE INC?
LEAD TO SERVE INC (California) receives grants from 19 organizations whose IRS filings report $7,631,809 to it, the largest being NATL CHRISTIAN CHARITABLE FDN INC ($4,946,777). 11 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 77% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
How many funders does LEAD TO SERVE INC have?
IRS filings report 19 organizations giving $7,631,809 in grants to LEAD TO SERVE INC, 11 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of LEAD TO SERVE INC?
NATL CHRISTIAN CHARITABLE FDN INC is the largest funder on record, with $4,946,777 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like LEAD TO SERVE INC find more funders?
Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in California. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.

These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 19 funders that report grants to it. “On record” means captured in the filings we have parsed — a funder that does not e-file, or whose grant detail is not itemized, will not appear. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind. Trends on this page end at FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving; later years are shown and marked, and move no figure. Data on this page was exported October 14, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing