Better Ballot Iowa

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
863074798
IRS 990-EZ coverage
2021–2025
Forms available
Form 990-EZ 2025, Form 990-N 2023
Location
Crescent, IA, USA
Phone
4026704177
Rating
77
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Citizen Participation

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$128,645
Expenses
$99,612
Assets
$31,591
Liabilities
$27,500

Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

8 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • MATT WETSTEIN (PRESIDENT &)

People named in this filing

  • AMY S BROWN (TREASURER &)
  • MATT WETSTEIN (PRESIDENT &)
  • DWIGHT SCHUMM (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-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Educating iowans about improvements to Iowa's election systems.

What it reported doing in 2025

Educate and engage iowans about election system reform. In 2025, the organization educated and engaged over 1200 iowans through 11 days of Iowa state fair outreach (staffed by 23 volunteers) and nine additional public events, resulting in 897 new supporters, distribution of approximately 900 educational meterials, ongoing email outreach to over 1000 individuals, and an estimated 1800-2300 volunteer hours.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 100% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
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 total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 59
  • Transparency & Controls: 100
  • Sustainability: 45
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 53.5%; rating input score 53
  • Program expense ratio: 69.1%; rating input score 69

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 22.6%; rating input score 74; 74th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.32; rating input score 27; 27th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.87; rating input score 5; 5th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 24.1%; rating input score 15; 15th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 32.4% per year; rating input score 100; 84th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 36.6% per year; rating input score 100; 92nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 26.3% per year; rating input score 100; 83rd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 53.5% of revenue deployed · 69.1% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: Filed governance answers
  • Accomplishments: 1 filed program accomplishment · $69K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 8 people listed
  • Consistency: 7 of 7 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 3 filing years from 2021 to 2025
  • 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.

  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 53/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 27/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 5/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 15/100.