Blue Monarch
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 820584070
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2020–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025
- Location
- Monteagle, TN, USA
- Phone
- 9319248900
- Rating
- 78
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Standard
- Sector
- Job Training
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $2,519,081
- Expenses
- $1,587,003
- Assets
- $9,085,751
- Liabilities
- $656,444
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
8 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- DEANNA HOWELL (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)
- BRYAN MYERS (PRESIDENT)
- ELIZABETH BOWLING (VICE PRESIDENT)
Highest reported compensation
- SUSAN BINKLEY (FOUNDER): $100,265 total reported compensation
- DEANNA HOWELL (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $85,812 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Blue monarch, a 1-2 year residential program for determined Tennessee women and their children, seeks to provide a safe, nurturing, and challenging environment where they can overcome abuse, unhealthy choices, and emotional wounds, while they restore family bonds.
What it reported doing in 2025
Women who come to blue monarch need assistance in recovering from harmful life circumstances including abuse and addiction to drugs and alcohol. Blue monarch assists women in reuniting with their children if they have lost custody of them and teaches newly sober mothers how to parent their children appropriately and without violence. Most residents admitted to blue monarch have never had a job, or if they did have a job, they could not keep it. As residents progress through the program they are required to participate in chores around the facility which teaches them responsibility. They also are required to attend a 9 week work ethics course which teaches them the basics of how to be a valued employee. They later may work and earn wages so that they may begin living independently and obtain a positive job reference.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 98% 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.
- Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.
The verdict
SUPPORTED - The filed numbers largely add up and most voting board members are independent. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 58
- Transparency & Controls: 100
- Accountability: 83
- Sustainability: 74
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 49.9%; rating input score 50
- Program expense ratio: 74.6%; rating input score 75
- Fundraising efficiency: $13.68 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 47; 47th 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: 85.7%; rating input score 86; 19th 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: Fail
- Other executive compensation review process: Fail
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 37%; rating input score 85; 85th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 5.73; rating input score 83; 83rd percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.07; rating input score 54; 54th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 11.7%; rating input score 29; 29th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 11.4% per year; rating input score 100; 65th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 2.8% per year; rating input score 100; 21st percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 13.7% per year; rating input score 100; 71st percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 49.9% of revenue deployed · 74.6% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 6 of 7 board members independent · 7 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $1.2M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $100K · 8 people listed
- Consistency: 28 of 28 current checks pass
- Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 6 filing years from 2020 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 2 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.
Key Signals
Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.
- Review — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 50/100.
- Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 47/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 9 not reported.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 29/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 54/100.