Ben Lomand Connect

Legal name: Ben Lomand Rural Telephone Cooperative

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
620532537
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2024
Official website data refreshed
Aug 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
McMinnville, TN, US
Phone
(800) 974-7779
Rating
72
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$36,583,231
Expenses
$32,479,134
Assets
$160,730,899
Liabilities
$35,184,281

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

Leadership & pay

18 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • CAIN L ROGERS (President)
  • JEFF FLATT (President & CEO)
  • DONALD HILLIS (Vice President)

Highest reported compensation

  • GREG SMARTT (GENERAL MANAGER): $352,810 total reported compensation
  • CHAD DEES (COO): $213,483 total reported compensation
  • DANIEL SAIN (CFO): $207,165 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Ben Lomand Rural Telephone Cooperative is a progressive broad-band provider committed to maximum value through state-of-the-art communication and information services in a global environment for the benefit of its members.

What it reported doing in 2024

To provide telecommunication services to the cooperative members in rural areas.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 93% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 99% 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 - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. A relatively small share of voting board members are independent and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 79
  • Transparency & Controls: 89
  • Accountability: 28
  • Sustainability: 69
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 83.3%; rating input score 83
  • Program expense ratio: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 4 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 67
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • Independent consultant: Pass
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Yes; rating input score 100

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 0%; rating input score 0; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 6 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 67
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: Pass
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Fail
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 11.2%; rating input score 70; 70th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 4.95; rating input score 84; 84th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.22; rating input score 56; 56th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 5.9%; rating input score 44; 44th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 2.3% per year; rating input score 100; 21st percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 2.3% per year; rating input score 100; 20th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 2.8% per year; rating input score 100; 21st percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 8 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 6 operating locations identified
  • Where the money goes: 83.3% of revenue deployed · 100% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 0 of 9 board members independent · 6 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $32.5M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $353K · 18 people listed · 4 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $17.6M reported
  • Consistency: 18 of 18 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes executive pay and related organizations
  • Filing history: 14 filing years from 2010 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 18 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 1 filed related-organization link
  • 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.

  • High — Accountability: Independent voting board scored 0/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 9 not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 44/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 56/100.