Better Business Bureau of Northern Indiana Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 350315965
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2013–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025
- Location
- Fort Wayne, IN, USA
- Phone
- 2604269970
- Rating
- 71
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $2,649,378
- Expenses
- $2,456,359
- Assets
- $2,002,188
- Liabilities
- $1,011,377
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
21 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- RICK WALZ (PRES/CEO RET)
- JAN DIAZ (PRESIDENT/CE)
Highest reported compensation
- JAN DIAZ (PRESIDENT/CE): $157,811 total reported compensation
- STEVE STEPP (VICE PRESIDE): $116,809 total reported compensation
- RICK WALZ (PRES/CEO RET): $43,068 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
To promote and foster the highest ethical relationship between business and the public through consumer and business education.
What it reported doing in 2025
Better business bureau collects viable information regarding the reliability of businesses to help consumers make wise buying choices. Its alternative dispute resolution process provides binding arbitration to businesses and consumers should there be no resolution in the normal complaint process. The ad review program seeks substantiation for advertisements that are untrue, misleading, deceptive, fraudulent, falsely disparaging of competitors, or insincere offers to sell. Better business bureau tailors presentations to the general public on topics such as fraud tactics and ethics.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Earned-program. 98% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The filing allocates 94% 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 most voting board members are independent. Few specific pay-setting methods are documented in the filing; unanswered boxes are not proof of absence and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 69
- Transparency & Controls: 60
- Accountability: 91
- Sustainability: 36
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 75.5%; rating input score 75
- Program expense ratio: 82.9%; rating input score 83
- Fundraising efficiency: $0 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 0; 0th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 0 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 0
- Compensation committee: Missing
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
- Written employment contract: Missing
- Compensation survey or study: Missing
- Board or committee approval: Missing
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: Limited
- Major donor itemization: Limited
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 7 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 78
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: Pass
- Other executive compensation review process: Fail
- Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 7.3%; rating input score 49; 49th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.82; rating input score 28; 28th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.51; rating input score 16; 16th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 12.9%; rating input score 26; 26th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 3.4% per year; rating input score 100; 26th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 3.8% per year; rating input score 100; 28th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 10.3% per year; rating input score 100; 59th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 75.5% of revenue deployed · 82.9% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 18 of 18 board members independent · 7 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $2M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $158K · 21 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Consistency: 32 of 32 current checks pass
- Schedules: 3 filed schedules · includes executive pay
- Filing history: 13 filing years from 2013 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.
- 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 — Transparency & Controls: Pay-setting controls scored 0/100.
- High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 0/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 9 not reported.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 49/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 28/100.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 16/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 26/100.