Dairyland Power Cooperative
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 390233059
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2010–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- La Crosse, WI, USA
- Phone
- (608) 788-4000
- Rating
- 50
- Verdict
- MIXED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $485,754,764
- Expenses
- $480,951,186
- Assets
- $1,567,424,114
- Liabilities
- $1,169,975,202
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
48 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Brent Ridge (President and Chief Executive Officer)
- John B Young (Vice President and Chief Risk Officer)
- Benjamin L Porath (Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer)
- Amanda Hoefling (Executive Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer)
- John P Carr (Vice President Strategic Growth (retired Q1 2025))
- April Wehling (Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer)
Highest reported compensation
- Brent Ridge (President and Chief Executive Officer): $1,178,042 total reported compensation
- John B Young (Vice President and Chief Risk Officer): $572,510 total reported compensation
- Benjamin L Porath (Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer): $532,824 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 exceed member expectations as a safe, sustainable, premier power cooperative.
What it reported doing in 2024
Dairyland Power is an electric generation and transmission cooperative association organized under the laws of WI and MN. The Cooperative, whose principal offices are located in Wisconsin, provides wholesale electric service to Class A members engaged in the retail sale of electricity to member consumers located in WI, MN, IA, and IL, and provides electric and other services to Class C, D, E and Special Services members, all on a cooperative, not-for-profit basis. This provides the basis for Dairyland's exempt purpose. Dairyland Power Cooperative is under the jurisdiction of the Rural Utilities Service which requires Dairyland's accounting records to be maintained, with minor modifications, in accordance with the Uniform System of Accounts for Public Utilities as prescribed by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (F.E.R.C.). Because of this, we do not have our expenses grouped by function as shown on the Form 990.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Other-operating. 99% of the money available for current operations came from other operating revenue.
- Distribution model
- Cannot be determined from the filing. The filing does not provide enough consistent spending detail to tell whether the nonprofit works directly or through others.
The verdict
MIXED - 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 a relatively small share of total spending goes to programs.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 0
- Transparency & Controls: 82
- Accountability: 100
- Sustainability: 49
- Growth: 60
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 0%; rating input score 0
- Program expense ratio: 0%; rating input score 0
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 68th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 4 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 67
- Compensation committee: Pass
- Independent consultant: Pass
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
- Written employment contract: Missing
- Compensation survey or study: Pass
- Board or committee approval: Pass
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: Limited
- Major donor itemization: Limited
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 77th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 9 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 100
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: Pass
- Other executive compensation review process: Pass
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 1%; rating input score 37; 37th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 3.26; rating input score 78; 78th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.75; rating input score 19; 19th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 1.9%; rating input score 58; 58th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: Limited
- Revenue growth: 1.4% per year; rating input score 100; 10th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 0.8% per year; rating input score 100; 10th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 4 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
- Where the money goes: 0% of revenue deployed · 0% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 24 of 24 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment
- Leadership: top reported pay $1.2M · 48 people listed · 4 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $4.6M reported
- Consistency: 13 of 14 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes executive pay
- Filing history: 14 filing years from 2010 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 48 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 2 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.
- Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.
Key Signals
Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.
- High — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 0/100.
- High — Financial Efficiency: Program expense ratio scored 0/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 37/100.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Functional expense sum did not reconcile in the filed values.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 19/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 58/100.