Foundation for the Mid South Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
721151070
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Jackson, MS, USA
Phone
6013558167
Rating
77
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Economic Development

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$693,649
Expenses
$2,601,712
Assets
$22,414,415
Liabilities
$934,339

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

Leadership & pay

10 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • GREGORY JOHNSON (PRESIDENT/CEO)

Highest reported compensation

  • GREGORY JOHNSON (PRESIDENT/CEO): $240,009 total reported compensation
  • KIMBERLY MCMILLAM (CFO): $134,209 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

The foundation for the mid south invests in people and strategies that build philanthropy and promote racial, social and economic equity in Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi.

What it reported doing in 2024

Education opportunities: foundation for the mid south (fms) advanced education equity initiatives across the region by: - youth development: delivered keynote presentations and leadership sessions at the gear up leadership academy (delta state university, june 2024), promoting youth leadership, academic persistence, and workforce readiness. - fms sponsored the Mississippi consortium of higher education in prisons (mci-iep) convening. The mchep convening is an annual event that focuses on best practices, policy updates, pell implementation information designed to assist colleges, universities, and partners in prison education work to provide meaningful instrnction leading to degree completion. - fms sponsored teachella august 31, 2024. Teachella is an educator expo designed for all educators to come together and initiate the movement that is needed to increase teacher retention and recruitment to help combat Mississippi's critical teacher shortage. - fms education provided four summer camps during june and july, with 175 students representing all nine school districts. To prepare for the summer camps, the gear up programs teams hosted two orientation sessions. The first session was for district liaisons/chaperones, with 100% district participation. The second session was for parents, with 100% district participation. - the gear-up team secured ten pminership meetings (100%) with school leaders from july 30, 2024, through august 9, 2024, to improve communication and learning oppo1iunities with one of our paiiners, get2college. These efforts and plans were implemented to ensure gear-up scholars can maximize all the free educational opp01iunities that gear-up Mississippi delta affords them as high school students.- through the Mississippi delta gear up pminership, fms accomplished the following:--1,843 students served--14,482 total service hours--96% schools servedimpact: the education work directly contributes to fms's strategic goal of raising high school graduation rates by 10% across the tri-state region by 2030.

Operating model

Revenue model
Investment-supported. 85% of the money available for current operations came from recurring investment income.
Distribution model
Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 72% for direct work, and 28% for grants.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. A relatively small share of total spending goes to programs and expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 75
  • Transparency & Controls: 80
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 36
  • Growth: 20

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 59%; rating input score 59
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 93.3%; rating input score 93; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Pass
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Pass
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 95.7%; rating input score 96; 43rd 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; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 9 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 100
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • 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: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -275.1%; rating input score 0; 0th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 8.62; rating input score 91; 91st percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.04; rating input score 54; 54th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 14.4%; rating input score 24; 24th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -2.8% per year; rating input score 0; 11th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -8.3% per year; rating input score 0; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 2.2% per year; rating input score 100; 26th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 59% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 8 of 8 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $1.5M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $240K · 10 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 34 of 35 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 15 filing years from 2010 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 17 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 15 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.

  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Program expense ratio scored 59/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 24/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 54/100.