Friends Against Abuse

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
411454505
IRS 990 coverage
2013–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
International Falls, MN, USA
Phone
2182857220
Rating
76
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$456,512
Expenses
$398,226
Assets
$505,855
Liabilities
$769

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

7 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • JENELL R FELLER (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)

Highest reported compensation

  • JENELL R FELLER (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $79,059 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Friends against abuse supports victims of crime through advocacy, direct services, and education. We empower individuals, families, and communities to break the cycle of violence, fostering healing for all.

What it reported doing in 2025

The majority of work done by friends against abuse is advocacy - crime victim advocacy. In 2025 there were three advocates covering koochiching and lake of the woods counties. They provide guidance, resources and support to victims. The advocates assist victims with filing court documents. The advocates attend court on behalf of their clients. The work of friends against abuse is centered around the crime victim advocate and their work. The crime victim advocates account for the greatest expense and they have the greatest impact on the clients that we serve. In 2025, the crime victim advocates served 248 victims of crime. During that time there were 107 victims of domestic violence, 85 victims general crimes and 26 victims of sexual assault (25 of the victims were children).

Operating model

Revenue model
Grant-funded. 79% of the money available for current operations came from government grants.
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. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and program spending has declined or grown slowly.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 68
  • Transparency & Controls: 85
  • Accountability: 90
  • Sustainability: 50
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 66.7%; rating input score 67
  • Program expense ratio: 75.7%; rating input score 76
  • Fundraising efficiency: $13.9 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 46; 46th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 90.9%; rating input score 91; 15th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • 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; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 6 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 75
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 12.8%; rating input score 61; 61st percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.27; rating input score 47; 47th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 49; 49th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 19.9%; rating input score 18; 18th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -0.2% per year; rating input score 0; 28th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 1.7% per year; rating input score 100; 28th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 0.4% per year; rating input score 100; 24th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 66.7% of revenue deployed · 75.7% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 6 of 6 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 5 filed program accomplishments · $301K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $79K · 7 people listed
  • Consistency: 26 of 27 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 13 filing years from 2013 to 2025
  • 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.

  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 46/100.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 47/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 18/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 49/100.