Beacon Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
743056968
IRS 990 coverage
2020–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Bloomington, IN, USA
Phone
8123345728
Rating
78
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Educational Services and Schools - Other

Reported finances

Revenue
$5,055,554
Expenses
$3,182,440
Assets
$4,058,272
Liabilities
$992,659

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

13 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • FORREST GILMORE (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)
  • MELANIE VEHSLAGE (PRESIDENT)
  • CAROL WATSON (VICE PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • FORREST GILMORE (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $87,945 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Beacon, inc, (beacon) is a solutions-driven, anti-poverty nonprofit, dedicated to aiding and empowering people experiencing extreme poverty, especially hunger and homelessness. Based in bloomington, in, beacon provides six core programs; shalom center, friend's place, phil's kitchen, crawford homes, rapid rehousing, and street outreach.

What it reported doing in 2024

Shalom center: the shalom center is beacon's day shelter and our main location, where phil's kitchen, rapid-re-housing, and street outreach all work from. Open every weekday from 8am to 4pm, shalom provides life essentials to help people stabilize in times of need, including: day shelter, breakfast and lunch (60,190 meals served), emergency groceries, restrooms, showers (5,339), laundry (1,733), storage, telephones, a mailing address, bus tickets (5,985), prescription assistance (50 people), rent and utility assistance (262 households), identification (138), and access to housing resources. Shalom center also provided counseling sessions (2,023), assisted people without homes, and reunited homeless people with out-of-town families (43). Friend's place: beacon provides overnight shelter to people experiencing homelessness. Friend's place is the only year-round, nonreligious shelter for adults (age 18+) in our region. Friend's place provides safe and sober beds for men, women, and gender nonbinary people. The shelter opens daily at 5:15pm. Guests must not be under the influence of alcohol or illegal drugs, and monroe county residents are given priority. Friend's place sheltered 269 people (25.65% of whom moved into permanent housing) for 14,210 bed-nights.crawford homes and rapid re-housing: as a housing first organization, beacon prioritizes housing for people experiencing homelessness. Beacon provides permanent supportive housing (crawford homes) for people experiencing long-term homelessness due to disabilities. Crawford homes provided homes for 132 formerly homeless people with disabilities. Rapid rehousing for people experiencing short-term homelessness who need less intensive supports. Rapid re-housing housed 119 people without shelter.

Operating model

Revenue model
Grant-funded. 60% of the money available for current operations came from government grants.
Distribution model
Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 51% for direct work, and 49% for grants.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - 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 fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 61
  • Transparency & Controls: 94
  • Accountability: 95
  • Sustainability: 68
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 51.7%; rating input score 52
  • Program expense ratio: 82%; rating input score 82
  • Fundraising efficiency: $13.4 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 47; 47th 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: 100%; rating input score 100; 72nd 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; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 7 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 88
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 37.1%; rating input score 88; 88th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.28; rating input score 46; 46th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.24; rating input score 39; 39th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 2.8%; rating input score 71; 71st percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -2.6% per year; rating input score 0; 8th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 13.3% per year; rating input score 100; 78th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 36.1% per year; rating input score 100; 95th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 51.7% of revenue deployed · 82% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 12 of 12 board members independent · 7 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $2.6M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $88K · 13 people listed
  • Consistency: 36 of 36 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
  • Filing history: 4 filing years from 2020 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • 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.

Grant-readiness screening is separate from the live rating, not a measure of program quality. Review the source records before making a grant decision.

  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 52/100.
  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 47/100.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Form 990 shared with the board not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 46/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 39/100.
  • High — Grant Readiness: Federal audit findings: this organization reported findings in its latest federal Single Audit.