First Call for Help of Itasca County

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
363541015
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2021
Location
Grand Rapids, MN, USA
Phone
8004428565
Rating
74
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Hot Line, Crisis Intervention Services

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$6,818,845
Expenses
$6,351,505
Assets
$2,537,117
Liabilities
$1,669,400

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

Leadership & pay

9 people listed

Highest reported compensation

  • LACRETIA LARSON (Executive Dir.): $188,797 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

First call for Help of Itasca County is a private, nonprofit community organization whose mission is to provide free, confidential and nonjudgement crisis intervention, active listening, and information and referral services 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, to the residents and agencies of North Central Minnesota.

What it reported doing in 2024

Call center: during the 2024 year our agency received 3202 calls into our call center from residents of the 7 county 2-1-1 hub area of which we serve. This resulted in providing 3087 resources to those residents in need and fielding 9,756 crisis calls. We supported 284 residents walking into our agency for referrals and resources. We answered 24,160 calls for 9-8-8 and 314 calls for mndoa. We conducted 382 coordinated entry services for homeless individuals, 39 mnsure/assist applications, and maintained a resource data base of 4126 agencies containing information regarding assistance available, qualifications to receive services and contact information to access these services. Our call center services 7 counties for i&r, 37 counties for crisis response dispach, 4 counties for after hours social services, 1 provider for eap (employee assistance line), 2 counties for homeless coordination, 47 counties in primary response and 87 counties secondary response for nspl (9-8-8) and 87 counties for farmers in distress. In 2024 we served 87 counties for nspl / 988 text and chat with a fully staffed and function program who responsed to 8281 consumers chatting in and 14098 consumers texting in for support. Our agency dispatched out the gomarti transportation system for 2249 rides during this fiscal year.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 62% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
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 - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Few specific pay-setting methods are documented in the filing; unanswered boxes are not proof of absence and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 78
  • Transparency & Controls: 65
  • Accountability: 84
  • Sustainability: 40
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 86%; rating input score 86
  • Program expense ratio: 90.6%; rating input score 91
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 0 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 0
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • 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: 5 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 62
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • 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: 6.9%; rating input score 56; 56th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.4; rating input score 13; 13th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.66; rating input score 14; 14th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 3%; rating input score 69; 69th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 20.4% per year; rating input score 100; 85th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 17.9% per year; rating input score 100; 86th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 18.3% per year; rating input score 100; 81st percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 86% of revenue deployed · 90.6% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 8 of 8 board members independent · 5 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $5.8M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $189K · 9 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 32 of 32 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 14 filing years from 2010 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
  • 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 — Transparency & Controls: Pay-setting controls scored 0/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 8 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 13/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 56/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 14/100.