Essentia Institute of Rural Health

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
271291124
IRS 990 coverage
2011–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Duluth, MN, USA
Phone
2187863940
Rating
81
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Medical Disciplines Research

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$10,547,026
Expenses
$12,202,333
Assets
$5,297,327
Liabilities
$978,488

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

Leadership & pay

9 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • KATHERINE DEAN (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)

Highest reported compensation

  • DANIEL NIKCEVICH MD (BOARD CHAIR/RELATED ORG PHYSICIAN): $932,372 total reported compensation
  • KATHERINE DEAN (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $329,332 total reported compensation
  • STEPHEN WARING (PRINCIPLE SCIENTIST): $223,021 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

We are called to make a healthy difference in people's lives.

What it reported doing in 2024

Essentia institute of rural health (eirh) is created and shall be operated exclusively for charitable, educational, scientific, and religious purposes. More specifically, eirh is created and organized to assist and coordinate activities of facilities for health care, health care education, and research.eirh supports clinical and health services research across populations served by essentia health in Minnesota, North Dakota, and Wisconsin.the eirh research division, in collaboration with essentia health clinicians and community partners, advances medicine through scientific research to improve patient outcomes and build health and vitality with our communities. The team published 65 peer-reviewed research publications in fiscal year ended june 30, 2025 to improve patient care and care delivery. Over 200 clinical trials were offered to our patients, and the eirh clinical trials team cared for over 1,800 patients.during the fiscal year ended june 30, 2025, eirh researchers submitted 37 new grant applications to federal/state agencies, non-profit organizations/foundations and managed over 50 research grants during the fiscal year. Eirh received 14 new grants totaling nearly $3 million in new, multi-year, external research grant funding.essentia health is the parent organization of an integrated health system that includes this organization and all entities that are owned or controlled, directly or indirectly, by essentia health (collectively, the "system or "essentia health").

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 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. Expenses are high relative to revenue and total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 86
  • Transparency & Controls: 85
  • Accountability: 76
  • Sustainability: 16
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 90.6%; rating input score 91
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • 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: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Yes; rating input score 100

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 66.7%; rating input score 67; 11th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 8 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 89
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -15.7%; rating input score 6; 6th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.43; rating input score 13; 13th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.18; rating input score 61; 61st percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 10.2%; rating input score 20; 20th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 3.4% per year; rating input score 100; 29th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 1.4% per year; rating input score 100; 14th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 2.7% per year; rating input score 100; 21st percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 90.6% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 2 of 3 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $11.1M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $932K · 9 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 30 of 30 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors, executive pay, and related organizations
  • Filing history: 14 filing years from 2011 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 6 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 27 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 — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 6/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 13/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Other executive compensation review process not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 20/100.