Frozen River Film Festival

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
473831228
IRS 990 coverage
2015–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Winona, MN, USA
Phone
5074948224
Rating
72
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Film, Video

Reported finances

Revenue
$179,789
Expenses
$162,501
Assets
$48,522
Liabilities
$6,897

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

Leadership & pay

10 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • EILEEN MOELLER (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR - PAST)

Highest reported compensation

  • EILEEN MOELLER (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR - PAST): $49,824 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 frozen river film festival offers documentary films and programming that engage, educate and activate our community to become involved in the world.

What it reported doing in 2024

Educate our audiences by offering documentary films and discussions on issues of local, regional and world importance. We expose our viewers to people and cultures they might otherwise never encounter, and to issues and perspectives they may have yet to consider.offer diverse points-of-view through the sharing of personal encounters dealing with world issues and nature. It is part of our mission to present a wide range of films and film makers from around the world.provide opportunities for debate, discussion and discourse on a variety of topics important to our community.encourage action on the part of each festival participant. Our festival will inspire viewers to take action on social issues, using tools and connections presented in documentary films and special q & a sessions that follow.promote cross-cultural dialogue as discovered and documented by innovative film-makers from Minnesota, as well as other states and countries around the world.foster action on current issues through collaboration and coalition-building with other grassroots organizations.our events included a 5 day film festival; a "30 seconds in winona" film festival; a great river shakespeare collaborative film screening; and a global initiatives week collaborative film screening. These events included 75 film screenings and 8 concerts and musical performances. We also held an adult workshop on documentary storeytelling, and a week long journalism program for students at a local middle school. Attendance for the film festival was approximately 3,500 people, attendance for all events during the year was approximately 4,000 people, drawing on partnerships with the 3 local higher education institutions, the city of winona, the local visitor's bureau, and other local art organizations.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 89% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
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 the organization raises money at a relatively low cost. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 60
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 69
  • Sustainability: 36
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 52.7%; rating input score 53
  • Program expense ratio: 58.8%; rating input score 59
  • Fundraising efficiency: $338.05 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 94; 94th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th 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; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 2 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 25
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: Fail
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 9.6%; rating input score 59; 59th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.3; rating input score 16; 16th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.14; rating input score 23; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 30.7%; rating input score 11; 11th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 3.4% per year; rating input score 100; 47th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 2.5% per year; rating input score 100; 38th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 4% per year; rating input score 100; 43rd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 52.7% of revenue deployed · 58.8% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 10 of 10 board members independent · 2 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $96K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $50K · 10 people listed
  • Consistency: 26 of 26 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 10 filing years from 2015 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.

  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 53/100.
  • High — Accountability: Governance controls: 5 of 7 not reported.
  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Program expense ratio scored 59/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 16/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 59/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 11/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 23/100.