Cannon Falls Education Foundation

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
411759564
IRS 990 coverage
2011–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Cannon Falls, MN, USA
Phone
5072636800
Rating
82
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$289,532
Expenses
$472,047
Assets
$1,832,801
Liabilities
$0

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

Leadership & pay

15 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • CLIFF GORMAN (President)
  • BRENDA OWENS (Vice President)

People named in this filing

  • CLIFF GORMAN (President)
  • BRENDA OWENS (Vice President)
  • TANNER CARLSON (Treasurer)

Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Cannon falls education foundation (cfef) mission is to provide funds to enhance the educational environment in the cannon falls public schools. Cfef supports and promotes excellence in education by providing funding for all types of creative and innovative educational programs and activities that are above and beyond the programs supported by general education dollars.

What it reported doing in 2025

Funding to or for the benefit of cannon falls area schools and/or its students of various supplemental education programs / activities and scholarships.

Operating model

Revenue model
Investment-supported. 72% of the money available for current operations came from recurring investment income.
Distribution model
Grant intermediary. The nonprofit sent 100% of its reported program spending out as grants.

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: 87
  • Transparency & Controls: 83
  • Accountability: 76
  • Sustainability: 40
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 94.7%; rating input score 95
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 84.6%; rating input score 85; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 99.1%; rating input score 99; 61st percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 3 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 43
    • 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: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -63%; rating input score 3; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 3.88; rating input score 75; 75th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 77; 77th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 67; 67th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 15.4% per year; rating input score 100; 78th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 3.4% per year; rating input score 100; 38th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 8.2% per year; rating input score 100; 57th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 94.7% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 15 of 15 board members independent · 3 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $447K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 15 people listed
  • Consistency: 17 of 19 current checks pass · 2 findings to review
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes grants
  • Filing history: 15 filing years from 2011 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • 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.

  • Moderate — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 6 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 3/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.