Duluth 1200 Fund Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
411520829
IRS 990 coverage
2020–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Duluth, MN, USA
Phone
2187305054
Rating
70
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate

Reported finances

Revenue
$1,696,428
Expenses
$281,106
Assets
$4,259,009
Liabilities
$1,305

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

7 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Laura Mullen (President/Director)
  • Julie Pierce (Vice President/Director)

People named in this filing

  • Laura Mullen (President/Director)
  • Julie Pierce (Vice President/Director)
  • Emily Vikre (Director)

Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

The 1200 Fund's purpose is to provide low or no interest loans & other financial assistance (grants) to local Duluth area individuals and businesses to confront economic deterioration & loss of jobs. Financing, provided by a governmental funded revolving loan fund, is intended to provide assistance to individuals & businesses that aren't able to obtain affordable, adequate, or appropriate financing from other conventional sources. The primary requirement for assistance is the recipient provides for new job creation and/or retention of existing jobs.

What it reported doing in 2024

There were 4 new 1200 Fund Advance loans that were approved and drawn down in 2024. The Advance loans have a provision for partial loan forgiveness based on the number of new jobs created and maintained for a specific period of time. (For the Advance loans with a partial loan forgiveness clause, quarterly job reporting is required in order to substantiate the amount of loan forgiveness that will be granted to the borrowers upon fulfillment of the loan agreements' job creation & maintenance requirements.) In 2024, there were no business entities that qualified for Advance loan forgiveness because of achieving their job creation and maintenance provisions of their loans; nor, did any of the Daycare related Advanced loans in 2024 meet the required number of childcare slots created and maintained for a specified amount of time, per their agreements. The Duluth Downtown and West End/Lincoln Park business and retail areas continue to suffer from the many business closings, from the effects of the COVID pandemic, with many empty and unoccupied office and retail spaces still remaining in 2024. In 2023, The 1200 Fund started the Mentorship Loan Program, which are low interest loans given to new businesses to assist them in their startup costs and to build credit, along with assistance from SCORE.org, known for their expert business knowledge & support for businesses. In 2024, the 1200 Fund gave 7 Mentorship loans. In 2024, 2 grants were given to a local non-profit foundation for 2 different child care grants, to promote growth of child care spots in the area, which is in great shortage; and 1 grant was given to a Business Club to promote their business district and to stimulate the growth & success of the area businesses.

Operating model

Revenue model
Grant-funded. 91% of the money available for current operations came from government grants.
Distribution model
Grant intermediary. The nonprofit sent 67% of its reported program spending out as grants.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - 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 some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 45
  • Transparency & Controls: 88
  • Accountability: 88
  • Sustainability: 93
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 21.1%; rating input score 21
  • Program expense ratio: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 92.3%; rating input score 92; 16th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 76th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 5 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 71
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 83.4%; rating input score 98; 98th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 15.15; rating input score 95; 95th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 81; 81st percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 81; 81st percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -47.8% per year; rating input score 0; 1st percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 34.4% per year; rating input score 100; 94th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 18.7% per year; rating input score 100; 79th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 21.1% of revenue deployed · 100% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 7 of 7 board members independent · 5 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $281K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 7 people listed
  • Consistency: 31 of 32 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes grants
  • Filing history: 4 filing years from 2020 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 3 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 3 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.

  • High — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 21/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.