Community Foundation of St. Joseph County
Legal name: Community Foundation of St Joseph County Inc
Overview
Mission
The Community Foundation of St. Joseph County is a charitable endowment that strives to improve the lives of the citizens of St. Joseph County, Indiana, through our core values of excellence, perseverance, compassion, wisdom, leadership, and legacy.
What it reported doing in 2024
Our third largest program area is Youth and Education. Thanks in part to our 21st Century Scholar Success Initiative, a record number of eligible St. Joseph County students were able to qualify for full tuition assistance in 2025. Our sponsorship of Dolly Parton's Imagination Library reaches nearly 10,000 local children with a new book every month. Our Early Years Count Initiative is continuing to improve outcomes for our county's youngest students. We continue to fund local youth organizations, and we hold more than 65 scholarship funds that grant out close to $1 million annually. Through these initiatives, we hope to build a stronger future for our community by ensuring our youngest members grow into informed, involved citizens.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 68% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- Distribution model
- Grant intermediary. The nonprofit sent 97% of its reported program spending out as grants.
- Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 237365930
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2019–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024
- Location
- South Bend, IN, USA
- Phone
- (574) 232-0041
- Rating
- 83
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Community Foundations
The verdict
STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and some filed totals do not add up.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 79
- Transparency & Controls: 76
- Accountability: 95
- Sustainability: 88
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 68.9%; rating input score 69
- Program expense ratio: 91.5%; rating input score 92
- Fundraising efficiency: $141.15 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 87; 87th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 92.9%; rating input score 93; 17th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 2 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 33
- Compensation committee: Pass
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
- Written employment contract: Missing
- Compensation survey or study: Pass
- Board or committee approval: Missing
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: 99%; rating input score 99; 37th percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 76th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 8 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 89
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: Pass
- Other executive compensation review process: Pass
- Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 51%; rating input score 96; 96th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 10.89; rating input score 91; 91st percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.06; rating input score 88; 88th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 2.2%; rating input score 52; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 22.7% per year; rating input score 100; 94th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 7.4% per year; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 6.9% per year; rating input score 100; 51st percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 4 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
- Where the money goes: 68.9% of revenue deployed · 91.5% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 20 of 20 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $27.5M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $330K · 23 people listed · 2 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Consistency: 44 of 45 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
- Filing history: 5 annual filings from 2019 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 195 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 186 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.
- 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.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Form 990 shared with the board not reported.
- Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
- Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 52/100.
Leadership & pay
23 people listed
Highest reported compensation
- Rose Meissner (President/CEO): $330,228 total reported compensation
- Anita Echevarria (VP Administration): $177,265 total reported compensation
- Aaron Perri (VP Community Impact): $154,661 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024.