Is it real?
Yes. Never revoked by the IRS. Latest filing on record: FY2025. IRS ruling in May 2000.
IRS Pub. 78 · IRS Auto-Revocation List · IRS Business Master File
Where the money goes
83 cents of each dollar spent went to programs.
Form 990 Part IX, line 25, columns B–D. Every line is in By the numbers.
Something off? Claim to add context
Who runs it and what they're paid
14 people listed on the 990.
Elizabeth Gutberlet’s $118K as CEO is at the 44th percentile of top reported officer pay among 3394 $1–10M education nonprofits. Peer set: organizations in the same NTEE major field of work and revenue-size band, compared on each org’s own highest-paid officer/key-employee, from Form 990 Part VII / 990-PF Part VIII. Descriptive placement, not a verdict on whether the pay is appropriate.
See Lutheran Elementary School Association executive salaries →Questions the 990 asks
The form asks each of these directly. These are the filed answers.
- Family or business ties among officersPt VI · Ln 2No
- Top official's pay set by an independent reviewPt VI · Ln 15aYes
Programs and updates
Supports Christ-centered learning and teaching in St. Louis Lutheran schools.
Questions for Lutheran Elementary School Association
Your first name shows with your question. Lutheran Elementary School Association answers here, for everyone.
Need based tuition assistance, representing a meaningful portion of the family tuition responsibility, is awarded to make lutheran elementary school education in the ST. Louis metro community accessible to children from all faith, ethnic, and economic backgrounds. Roughly 800 students were served with this funding.
Produced and provided professional development programs for educators in member schools, delivering roughly 3,500 hours of professional development programing to over 500 educators;expanded the stem program to serve students in early childhood through eighth grade by providing hands-on instructional materials from the lego education…
Provided stem instructional materials to schools to introduce students at every grade level to robotics, coding, and other stem skills. Lesa's lego lending library includes roughly 100 kits, including coding express and steam park, wedo, spike prime, and MINDSTORMS/EV3, appropriate for students from early childhood through grade eight.
Funders
Who pays for it.
From grant filings on record. Receipts are incomplete: individual donors are never listed.
Grants
By the numbers
The FY2022 990, line by line.
Download 990
| Line | FY22 | FY21 | FY20 | FY19 | FY18 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| End of yearLn 1g | $8.6M | $10.3M | $7.9M | $8.1M | $7.8M |
| Given inLn 1b | $163K | $1.0M | $115K | $219K | $295K |
| SpentLn 1d–1f | $578K | $1.0M | $504K | $410K | $701K |
| Line | Start FY22 | End FY22 |
|---|---|---|
| Cash and savingsLn 1–2 | $936K | $1.1M |
| InvestmentsLn 11–13 | $10.3M | $8.6M |
| Land, buildings, equipmentLn 10c | $9K | $10K |
| Total assetsLn 16 | $11.4M | $9.8M |
| LiabilitiesLn 26 | $61K | $9K |
| Net assetsLn 32 | $11.4M | $9.7M |
| Line | Total | Programs | Management | Fundraising |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grants to domestic individualsLn 2 | $622K | $622K | ||
| Other salaries and wagesLn 7 | $284K | $230K | $9K | $45K |
| Other employee benefitsLn 9 | $57K | $46K | $2K | $9K |
| Payroll taxesLn 10 | $17K | $14K | $517 | $3K |
| Office expensesLn 13 | $2K | $2K | $69 | $367 |
| OccupancyLn 16 | $25K | $20K | $739 | $4K |
| TravelLn 17 | $3K | $2K | $76 | $406 |
| Depreciation, depletion and amortizationLn 22 | $4K | $3K | $123 | $656 |
| InsuranceLn 23 | $8K | $6K | $232 | $1K |
| Other expenses (24a–d)Ln 24 | $155K | $38K | $110K | $7K |
| All other expensesLn 24e | $46K | $37K | $1K | $7K |
| Total functional expensesLn 25 | $1.2M | $1.0M | $124K | $79K |
Filing history
| Year | Money in | Money out | In minus out | Net assets | Download |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY2025 LatestFiled with the IRS Dec 15, 2025 | $1.4M | $1.4M | $42K | $11.5M | 990 PDF |
| FY2024Filed with the IRS Jan 17, 2025 | $1.9M | $1.4M | $547K | $10.8M | 990 PDF |
| FY2023Filed with the IRS Dec 8, 2023 | $1.8M | $1.3M | $576K | $10.2M | 990 PDF |
| FY2022 ViewingFiled with the IRS Oct 31, 2022 | $1.5M | $1.2M | $241K | $9.7M | 990 PDF |
| FY2021Filed with the IRS Oct 21, 2021 | $2.5M | $1.1M | $1.4M | $11.4M | 990 PDF |
Schedules filed Part IV
See the full FY2022 990 (6 parts)
Part I · Summary $1,463,339 revenue, 12 lines filed
Part VI · Governance 14 of 14 board members independent, no flags
Part VIII · Statement of revenue $1,463,339 across 8 lines filed
Part IX · Statement of functional expenses $1,222,746 across 11 lines filed
Part X · Balance sheet $9,756,082 assets, 12 lines filed
Part XI · Reconciliation of net assets $9,747,309 net assets at year end
Form 990 e-file (XML) FY2022 from the IRS · Classification, formation year and address from the IRS Business Master File
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