GM First & Second Thrift Store

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
921036167
IRS 990 coverage
2024–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2023
Location
Grand Marais, MN, USA
Phone
2183871826
Rating
80
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Fund Raising and Fund Distribution
Affiliation
Christianity

Reported finances

Revenue
$261,245
Expenses
$244,889
Assets
$237,958
Liabilities
$656

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

Leadership & pay

7 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Ann Marie Mershon (President)
  • Barb Backlund (Vice president)

People named in this filing

  • Ann Marie Mershon (President)
  • Barb Backlund (Vice president)
  • Diane DeBevec (Secretary)

Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.

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

Overview

Mission

To raise money for local nonprofit through the sale of donated goods; To work with social services and local churches to provide clothing and household goods to people in need; To decrease the amount of clothing and household goods going to a landfill; To offer a source of lightly used goods for a affordable price; To offer community members a place to volunteer their time while supporting local nonprofits.

What it reported doing in 2025

In 2024 52 volunteers raised $180,003 for local nonprofit organizations through the sale of donated used goods. Grants were distributed in Feb 2025 to 33 organizations with current 501c3 status located in Cook County MN.

Operating model

Revenue model
Other-operating. 99% of the money available for current operations came from other operating revenue.
Distribution model
Cannot be determined from the filing. The filing does not provide enough consistent spending detail to tell whether the nonprofit works directly or through others.

The verdict

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 83
  • Transparency & Controls: 83
  • Accountability: 70
  • Sustainability: 49
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 91.3%; rating input score 91
  • Program expense ratio: 97.4%; rating input score 97
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 92.3%; rating input score 92; 24th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 84.1%; rating input score 84; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 2 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 29
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • 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: 6.3%; rating input score 50; 50th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.97; rating input score 40; 40th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 47; 47th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 67; 67th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 31.1% per year; rating input score 100; 90th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 14.8% per year; rating input score 100; 80th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 16.3% per year; rating input score 100; 78th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 91.3% of revenue deployed · 97.4% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 7 of 7 board members independent · 2 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $238K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 7 people listed
  • Consistency: 41 of 43 current checks pass · 2 findings to review
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes grants
  • Filing history: 2 filing years from 2024 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 14 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 14 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.

  • High — Accountability: Governance controls: 4 of 6 not reported.
  • Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 50/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 40/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Functional expense sum did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 47/100.