Civic Caucus

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
141937842
IRS 990-EZ coverage
2022–2024
Forms available
Form 990-EZ 2024
Location
Minneapolis, MN, USA
Phone
6122723624
Rating
93
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Alliance/Advocacy Organizations

Reported finances

Revenue
$19,040
Expenses
$32,250
Assets
$31,720
Liabilities
$0

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

Leadership & pay

8 people listed

People named in this filing

  • Janis Clay (Chair)
  • John Cairns (Vice Chair)
  • Paul Ostrow (Secretary/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-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Public affairs information and education

What it reported doing in 2024

During 2024, the Civic Caucus developed plans for a 2025 interview series series to be entitled "Restoring Faith in Minnesota Institutions," which will feature accomplished speakers discussing important Minnesota institutions of public policy. To add an element of mentoring and engaging new leadership, each interview panel will pair two policy veterans with two high school or college age young persons, along with a moderator. Following each interview, a write up and Zoom recording will be distributed to the Civic Caucus readership. In 2024, the Civic Caucus was added to MNOpedia, a Wikipedia-like tool, run by the Minnesota Historical Society. Civic Caucus staff worked with MNOpedia staff to create an overview of the rich history of the Civic Caucus. The Civic Caucus also focused on website improvements, including a revamped, expanded, and improved Civic Directory, the comprehensive database of Minnesota civic organizations that the Civic Caucus maintains as a service to its readers and to Minnesota's public policy community. The Civic Caucus also continued work on a history project, aiming to document and analyze Minnesota's rich history of politics and policy, featuring politics, voting, campaigns, and political movements. A highlight of this initiative will be a curated and annotated list of significant Minnesota policy and leadership books. In addition, we continued work on a series of Guides to Minnesota's civic and political structure which we plan to host on our website and distribute to youth organizations.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 96% 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

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Expenses are high relative to revenue and assets have declined or grown slowly.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 94
  • Transparency & Controls: 100
  • Sustainability: 33
  • Growth: 80

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 85.5%; rating input score 85

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: -69.4%; rating input score 10; 10th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.98; rating input score 46; 46th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 68; 68th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 56; 56th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 77.7% per year; rating input score 100; 96th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 33.3% per year; rating input score 100; 94th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -13% per year; rating input score 0; 14th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 85.5% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: Filed governance answers
  • Accomplishments: 1 filed program accomplishment · $28K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 8 people listed
  • Consistency: 9 of 9 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 3 filing years from 2022 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: Resolved incoming and outgoing counterparties from filed money flows.
  • 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 — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 10/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 46/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 56/100.