CommunityGiving
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 363412544
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2015–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- St. Cloud, MN, US
- Phone
- (320) 253-4380
- Rating
- 76
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Community Foundations
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $46,201,694
- Expenses
- $23,060,011
- Assets
- $282,584,648
- Liabilities
- $51,247,298
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
26 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- STEVEN JOUL (PRESIDENT)
- SARA CARLSON (WACF EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)
- GRETA STARK-KRAKER (CMCF EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)
Highest reported compensation
- STEVEN JOUL (PRESIDENT): $274,160 total reported compensation
- DOMINIC PAPATOLA (CHIEF IMPACT OFFICER): $175,095 total reported compensation
- ELISE WIENER (CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER): $170,764 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
To strengthen local communities by empowering community foundations.
What it reported doing in 2024
Community initiatives - the foundation focuses its efforts on supporting and staffing 6 major initiatives designed to engage the community in building social capital assets, promoting volunteer involvement activities for over 5,000 people and providing leverage to generate additional funds for identified community issues.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 83% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- Distribution model
- Grant intermediary. The nonprofit sent 92% of its reported program spending out as grants.
- Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.
The verdict
SUPPORTED - A large share of total spending goes to programs and the filed numbers largely add up. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 66
- Transparency & Controls: 72
- Accountability: 92
- Sustainability: 85
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 53.2%; rating input score 53
- Program expense ratio: 88.1%; rating input score 88
- Fundraising efficiency: $34.72 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 69; 69th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 94.7%; rating input score 95; 24th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 1 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 17
- Compensation committee: Missing
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
- Written employment contract: Missing
- Compensation survey or study: Missing
- Board or committee approval: Pass
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: 94.9%; rating input score 95; 24th percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 95.2%; rating input score 95; 29th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 8 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 89
- 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: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 50.1%; rating input score 94; 94th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 12.25; rating input score 93; 93rd percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.18; rating input score 61; 61st percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 4.6%; rating input score 55; 55th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 7.3% per year; rating input score 100; 57th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 10.5% per year; rating input score 100; 76th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 9.7% per year; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 4 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 3 operating locations identified
- Where the money goes: 53.2% of revenue deployed · 88.1% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 20 of 21 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $20.3M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $274K · 26 people listed · 1 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Consistency: 32 of 33 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 9 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
- Filing history: 9 filing years from 2015 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 432 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 428 filed related-organization links
- 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.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Other executive compensation review process not reported.
- Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
- Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 55/100.