Appalachian Leadership and Educational Foundation
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 421625673
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2011–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025
- Location
- Williamson, WV, USA
- Phone
- 3042352100
- Rating
- 60
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Scholarships, Student Financial Aid Services, Awards
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $682,199
- Expenses
- $229,375
- Assets
- $6,299,217
- Liabilities
- $0
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
3 people listed
People named in this filing
- ROBERT H FOGLESONG (CHAIRMAN)
- MIKE CONLON (TREASURER)
- GEORGE POOLE III (SECRETARY)
Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
The mission of alef is to recruit and educate young men and women who are academically qualified, exhibit a strong work ethic and demonstrate leadership qualities but would otherwise find college unattainable, to develop the fellows into skilled citizens and future leaders for appalachian and beyond, and to develop leadership fellowships and leadership honors programs that provide the opportunity for higher education institutions to focus on character and leadership.
What it reported doing in 2025
Giving of scholarships
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Investment-supported. 71% of the money available for current operations came from recurring investment income.
- 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
SUPPORTED - The filed numbers largely add up and program spending has grown recently. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and a relatively small share of voting board members are independent.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 53
- Transparency & Controls: 92
- Accountability: 6
- Sustainability: 93
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 36.5%; rating input score 37
- Program expense ratio: 73.2%; rating input score 73
- Fundraising efficiency: $55.98 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 77; 77th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: Limited
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: Limited
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 0%; rating input score 0; 6th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 1 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 14
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
- Whistleblower policy: Fail
- Document-retention policy: Fail
- CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Missing
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 66.4%; rating input score 94; 94th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 27.46; rating input score 98; 98th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 88; 88th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 78; 78th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 17.2% per year; rating input score 100; 75th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 1.7% per year; rating input score 100; 18th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 6.3% per year; rating input score 100; 41st percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 36.5% of revenue deployed · 73.2% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 0 of 3 board members independent · 1 of 7 filing controls reported
- Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $168K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 3 people listed
- Consistency: 13 of 13 current checks pass
- Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 14 filing years from 2011 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- 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.
- Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 37/100.
- High — Accountability: Independent voting board scored 0/100.
- High — Accountability: Governance controls: 5 of 6 not reported.