Corner Post Media

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
814388951
IRS 990 coverage
2024–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2023, Form 990-N 2021
Location
Escalante, UT, USA
Phone
4358264400
Rating
77
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Education N.E.C.

Reported finances

Revenue
$241,319
Expenses
$195,041
Assets
$154,434
Liabilities
$5,975

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

Leadership & pay

4 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Erica Walz (Executive Director)
  • David Conine (President)
  • Peg Smith (Vice President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Erica Walz (Executive Director): $34,440 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 provide education and awareness to the general public, by producing and publishing in-depth journalism about issues related to the intersection of culture and land across the Colorado Plateau. The Colorado Plateau is traditionally an underserved region for endemic reporting, and The Corner Post's mission is to help fill that void.

What it reported doing in 2025

In 2025, Corner Post Media produced over 300 original, locally reported stories, distributed in print and online through Corner Post Media's newspaper, The Wayne & Garfield County Insider. The Insider is a two-county newspaper with a print circulation of 3,700 as well as a website, insiderutah.com, which receives 6,000 unique visitors each month and a digital newsletter with 400 subscribers. The Insider works with staff reporters and freelance journalists to cover local news and feature stories, local government meetings and activities and stories related to community businesses and economic development. Corner Post Media also produced long-form regional reporting published online at cornerpost.org. Stories published on cornerpost.org are published under Creative Commons licensing and are free for other established outlets to redistribute free-of-charge.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 69% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
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

SUPPORTED - 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 program spending has declined or grown slowly.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 78
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 63
  • Sustainability: 49
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 80.8%; rating input score 81
  • Program expense ratio: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th 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: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 1 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 12
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: Fail
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 19.2%; rating input score 70; 70th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.79; rating input score 35; 35th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.04; rating input score 29; 29th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 17.7%; rating input score 20; 20th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -2% per year; rating input score 0; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 50.5% per year; rating input score 100; 97th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 42.6% per year; rating input score 100; 94th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 80.8% of revenue deployed · 100% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 3 of 3 board members independent · 1 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $195K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $34K · 4 people listed
  • Consistency: 21 of 21 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 2 filing years from 2024 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
  • 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 — Accountability: Governance controls: 6 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 35/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 20/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 29/100.