Bentleyville Tour of Lights

Legal name: Bentleyville Tour of Lights Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
263787799
IRS 990 coverage
2011–2024
Official website data refreshed
Sep 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Duluth, MN, US
Phone
[email protected]
Rating
78
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Christianity
Affiliation
Christianity

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$1,243,541
Expenses
$1,205,641
Assets
$837,230
Liabilities
$75,626

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

Leadership & pay

11 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • JESSE HINKEMEYER (PRESIDENT, D)

Highest reported compensation

  • TONY BRONSON (DIRECTOR): $6,619 total reported compensation
  • REGINA FODNESS (DIRECTOR): $4,725 total reported compensation
  • CRAIG VANNESTE (DIRECTOR): $2,955 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

To create and continue to reimagine a free walk-through Christmas Lighting Display that embraces the magic of the holidays. Bentleyville celebrates the season, family, community and, charitable giving.

What it reported doing in 2024

Bentleyville tour of lights provides a free holiday light show at bayfront park in duluth, mn. Children 10 years and younger receive a new knit hat when they visit santa claus. 30,000 hats were handed out during the event. Free coffee, hot chocolate and cookies are provided to visitors as they stand around one of the many fire pits enjoying conversation and fellowship. An estimated 299,000 visitors toured bentleyville during the period. Bentleyville tour of lights is also a drop-off site for the salvation army's annual toys-for-tots and food drive where 9,255 pounds of food and 1,433 toys were received. Volunteers put in approximately 10,000 hours to make this year's tour of lights a success.

Operating model

Revenue model
Other-operating. 62% of the money available for current operations came from other operating revenue.
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

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 70
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 77
  • Sustainability: 43
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 76.7%; rating input score 77
  • Program expense ratio: 78.9%; rating input score 79
  • Fundraising efficiency: $2.25 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 6; 6th 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: 90.9%; rating input score 91; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 4 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 57
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • 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: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 3%; rating input score 45; 45th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.69; rating input score 32; 32nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.09; rating input score 44; 44th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 1.2%; rating input score 60; 60th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 9% per year; rating input score 100; 60th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 9.6% per year; rating input score 100; 65th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 7.5% per year; rating input score 100; 50th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 2 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
  • Where the money goes: 76.7% of revenue deployed · 78.9% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 10 of 11 board members independent · 4 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $952K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $7K · 11 people listed
  • Consistency: 29 of 29 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 13 filing years from 2011 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 3 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.

  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 6/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 7 not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 45/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 32/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 44/100.