Defiance Development and Visitors Bureau Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 205588552
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2011–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2010
- Location
- Defiance, OH, USA
- Phone
- 4197820739
- Rating
- 84
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Economic Development
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $567,084
- Expenses
- $550,811
- Assets
- $522,257
- Liabilities
- $2,321
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
16 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- JESSICA BALL (PRESIDENT)
Highest reported compensation
- KIRSTIE MACK (FORMER EXEC): $49,387 total reported compensation
- EZEKIEL TRACY (EXECUTIVE DI): $17,885 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
The purposes for which this corporation is organized are to enhance the appearance of the defiance area through beautification, restoration, and historic preservation; to provide educational and other services to strengthen and expand the economic base of downtown defiance; and to promote business, events, and activities in the defiance area.
What it reported doing in 2025
The organization's primary exempt purpose is to develop projects to enhance, educate, and promote business in the defiance area. This includes organizing, supporting and overseeing the following committees: the design committee, whose purpose is to create an attractive, coordinated and quality image of the community by capitalizing on its unique assets and heritage; the promotion committee, whose primary responsibility is to market a unified, quality image of the business district as the center of activities, goods and services to retailers, residents, shoppers, investors and tourists; and the economic restructuring committee, works to develop a market strategy for the community that will result in an improved retail mix, a stronger tax base, increased investor confidence and a strong, stable role for the downtown area.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The filing allocates 92% 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: 84
- Transparency & Controls: 90
- Accountability: 84
- Sustainability: 42
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 83.8%; rating input score 84
- Program expense ratio: 86.3%; rating input score 86
- Fundraising efficiency: $66.95 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 80; 80th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 93.3%; rating input score 93; 24th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: Limited
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 78th percentile among comparable filings
- 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: 5 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 62
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Fail
- Document-retention policy: Fail
- CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
- 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: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 2.9%; rating input score 39; 39th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.95; rating input score 41; 41st percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 66; 66th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 12.2%; rating input score 31; 31st percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 9.6% per year; rating input score 100; 56th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 6% per year; rating input score 100; 43rd percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 6.5% per year; rating input score 100; 42nd percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 83.8% of revenue deployed · 86.3% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 11 of 11 board members independent · 5 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $475K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $49K · 16 people listed
- Consistency: 30 of 31 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
- Filing history: 15 filing years from 2011 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 3 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 1 filed related-organization link
- 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 — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 8 not reported.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 39/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 41/100.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 31/100.