Decatur Tourism Bureau Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 263883825
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2014–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2017
- Location
- Decatur, GA, USA
- Phone
- 4043718386
- Rating
- 81
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Economic Development
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $687,676
- Expenses
- $771,016
- Assets
- $409,266
- Liabilities
- $134,922
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
8 people listed
Highest reported compensation
- SHERRY JACKMAN (EXECUTIVE DI): $51,053 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
The decatur tourism bureau, inc. Exists to promote tourism and attract visitors to the city of decatur. The decatur tourism bureau fulfills its mission through key activities, including operating the decatur visitors center, managing a tourism-focused website and a robust calendar of events and meetings, and producing and distributing city of decatur brochures, maps, and specialty materials that highlight local businesses and attractions. Additionally, the bureau engages meeting planners and organizations to encourage hosting events in decatur and supports both existing and future local events to strengthen the city's tourism economy.
What it reported doing in 2024
The decatur tourism bureau, inc. Operated through the decatur visitors center during the fiscal year of 7/1/2024 through 6/30/2025. Throughout this period, the organization sponsored several major festivals and events, including the decatur arts festival, decatur wine festival, amplify decatur music festival, placita latina, and pan african festival. The bureau also began planning efforts for the 2026 world cup watch fest. We also partnered with block by block, a national space management company, to assist ambassadors with safety, visitor interactions, wayfinding, and cleanliness. In addition, the tourism bureau collaborated closely with the decatur arts alliance on public art initiatives, such as the sculpture gallery and citywide traffic signal box projects. A key priority of the organization is supporting decatur's hospitality industry, particularly local hotels, by helping to maintain strong occupancy rates. Hosting vibrant events and festivals remains central to the bureau's overall marketing strategy.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Grant-funded. 96% of the money available for current operations came from government grants.
- 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. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and expenses are high relative to revenue.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 85
- Transparency & Controls: 90
- Accountability: 69
- Sustainability: 23
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 99.4%; rating input score 99
- Program expense ratio: 88.6%; rating input score 89
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: Limited
- 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; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 2 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 25
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Fail
- Document-retention policy: Fail
- CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Other executive compensation review process: Fail
- Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Missing
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -12.1%; rating input score 15; 15th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.53; rating input score 25; 25th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.33; rating input score 23; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 6.6%; rating input score 48; 48th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 19.3% per year; rating input score 100; 82nd percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 14.4% per year; rating input score 100; 77th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 14.2% per year; rating input score 100; 70th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 99.4% of revenue deployed · 88.6% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 8 of 8 board members independent · 2 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $683K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $51K · 8 people listed
- Consistency: 26 of 26 current checks pass
- Schedules: 2 filed schedules
- Filing history: 8 filing years from 2014 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
- 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: 5 of 7 not reported.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 15/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 25/100.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 23/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 48/100.