Farmers' Legal Action Group Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
363431212
IRS 990 coverage
2011–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
St Paul, MN, USA
Phone
6512235400
Rating
65
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$814,553
Expenses
$914,553
Assets
$936,273
Liabilities
$48,076

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

Leadership & pay

9 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Terry VanDerPol (President)
  • Scott Carlson (Executive Director)

Highest reported compensation

  • Scott Carlson (Executive Director): $188,781 total reported compensation
  • James Carpenter (Deputy Director/Senior Staff Attorney): $175,469 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Farmers' Legal Action Group, Inc., is a nonprofit corporation located in Saint Paul, Minnesota, which operates a law center that provides legal services and support to America's family farmers and their communities to help keep farmers on the land.

What it reported doing in 2024

During the entirety of 2024, FLAG also continued operating its national Family Farmer Legal Assistance Hotline and answered calls from across the United States on a broad range of issues including bankruptcy; farm business issues; contracts; crop insurance; disaster assistance; discrimination; private and USDA Farm Service Agency credit/lending issues; farmland access; farm family probate/wills/estates matters; farmer-lender mediation; federal support and relief programs, rules, and regulations; appeals of adverse federal agency decisions; foreclosures; landlord/tenant disputes; property rights; and other issues. During this year, FLAG attorneys conducted nineteen trainings attended by more than 600 farmers, farm advocates, attorneys, and other interested individuals. Topics included farm borrowers' rights, federal farm programs, farm credit, and other pressing legal issues facing farmers throughout the year. FLAG attorneys also published a 256-page Farmers' Guide to Minnesota Lending Law.During 2024, FLAG held five free Continuing Legal Education classes for attorneys, and four professional development educational sessions for agricultural professionals in Minnesota. In total, 247 agricultural professionals attended the professional development educational series.The aim of these two series was to give rural attorneys, and agricultural professionals who assist farmers, knowledge of agricultural/farm lending law, so they can know what practices farmers should follow to obtain and maintain access to credit, and to know borrowers' rights and options when disputes over credit and lending occur. Free legal, or farmer peer support, services are a key component of helping financially distressed farmers in Minnesota. Farmers experiencing occupational stress or behavioral or mental health issues invariably have legal, business, financial or credit problems requiring the services of an attorney or peer supporter. Such legal problems significantly compound, and are often the cause of, significant stress and behavioral problems. Access to lawyers helps resolve those problems, which reduces farmer stress and helps get the farm back to relatively normal operations.Unfortunately, it has become an increasingly acute problem that most Minnesota farmers do not have access to adequate legal representation, especially involving debt disputes, borrowers' rights, and other matters related to farm credit and lending law. Meanwhile, banks and lenders are well represented by sophisticated attorneys, leaving a very uneven playing field for financially troubled and stressed farm families.To increase the number of rural Minnesota attorneys representing farmers in financial disputes with lenders, or in other similar adversarial situations, FLAG offered free CLEs on Minnesota agricultural/farm lending law. In collaboration with the Minnesota State Bar Association (MSBA), and the Minnesota Department of Agriculture, FLAG developed and delivered educational materials and a series of four free live, interactive Continuing Legal Education webinars, including free CLE credits for attorneys, along with archived on-demand videos of those webinars.The CLEs and CLE materials provided attorneys representing farmers in adversarial disputes the tools they need to stand up for farm families and ensure that farmers' rights are heard and protected, especially at vulnerable times for farm families experiencing financial and mental or behavioral distress.FLAG's website, and the Farmers' Guides hosted there, were accessed by thousands of unique visitors during the year.

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

SUPPORTED - The filed numbers largely add up and most voting board members are independent. A relatively small share of total spending goes to programs and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 56
  • Transparency & Controls: 70
  • Accountability: 86
  • Sustainability: 26
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 63.8%; rating input score 64
  • Program expense ratio: 56.8%; rating input score 57
  • Fundraising efficiency: $4.03 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 13; 13th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 1 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 17
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Missing
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 6 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 67
    • 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: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Fail
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -12.3%; rating input score 15; 15th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.02; rating input score 43; 43rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.05; rating input score 52; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 39.8%; rating input score 4; 4th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 0.3% per year; rating input score 100; 19th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -1.1% per year; rating input score 0; 11th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 2.4% per year; rating input score 100; 27th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 63.8% of revenue deployed · 56.8% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 7 of 7 board members independent · 6 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $520K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $189K · 9 people listed · 1 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 28 of 28 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 13 filing years from 2011 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.

  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Program expense ratio scored 57/100.
  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 13/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 9 not reported.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 15/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 43/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 4/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 52/100.