Meals on Wheels of Bennington County
Legal name: Bennington County Meals Program
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 030343945
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2010–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2009
- Location
- Bennington, VT, US
- Phone
- (802) 442-8012
- Rating
- 85
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Human Services
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $916,024
- Expenses
- $872,181
- Assets
- $610,181
- Liabilities
- $34,490
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
8 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Joan Dornhoefer (President)
Highest reported compensation
- Ilsa Svoboda (Executive Dir.): $101,823 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Meals on Wheels of Bennington County, Vermont, a 501(c)3, offers healthy, nutritious and tasty meals to eligible seniors over 60 years old, and to disabled adults under age 60. Hot meals are delivered to seniors in their homes or served at our meal sites, located throughout the county.
What it reported doing in 2024
Provided nutritious meals through a community meal program and home deliveries to those unable to participate in the community program for elderly and disabled residents of Bennington County, Vermont.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
- 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.
- Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.
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 expenses are high relative to revenue.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 81
- Transparency & Controls: 92
- Accountability: 90
- Sustainability: 42
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 80.2%; rating input score 80
- Program expense ratio: 84%; rating input score 84
- Fundraising efficiency: $62.33 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 81; 81st 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: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 6 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 75
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Fail
- CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Other executive compensation review process: Pass
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 4.8%; rating input score 49; 49th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.7; rating input score 32; 32nd percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.06; rating input score 50; 50th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 11.7%; rating input score 32; 32nd percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 4.3% per year; rating input score 100; 38th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 6.1% per year; rating input score 100; 49th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 5.9% per year; rating input score 100; 43rd percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 3 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
- Where the money goes: 80.2% of revenue deployed · 84% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 6 of 6 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $733K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $102K · 8 people listed
- Consistency: 28 of 28 current checks pass
- Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 15 filing years from 2010 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
- 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.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 8 not reported.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 49/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 32/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 32/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 50/100.