Greater Omaha Chamber Foundation

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
470633685
IRS 990 coverage
2019–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024
Location
Omaha, NE, USA
Phone
4029787944
Rating
59
Verdict
MIXED
Rating confidence
Moderate

Reported finances

Revenue
$8,643,101
Expenses
$4,765,127
Assets
$9,717,532
Liabilities
$1,324,034

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

Leadership & pay

8 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • BETH WHITED (VICE PRESIDENT)
  • HEATH MELLO (PRESIDENT & CEO)
  • MARK NORMAN (VICE PRESIDENT, SITE DEVELOPMENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • HEATH MELLO (PRESIDENT & CEO): $490,217 total reported compensation
  • ANNE BRANIGAN (SECRETARY): $247,278 total reported compensation
  • PETE THOMPSON (SVP, OPERATIONS & RESEARCH): $167,832 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

To increase business, employment, and investment in the greater omaha area.

What it reported doing in 2024

Economic development - also referred to as prosper omaha, the current strategy/campaign, or greater omaha economic development partnership, a program name that reflects a collaborative effort to support and enhance economic development activities and opportunities in the region. Areas of focus include business retention, expansion and attraction, from start-ups to fortune 500 companies, and minority owned and international businesses. Specific industry focus includes agribusiness, military and defense, financial services, logistics and life science. Services include incentives and training, available sitesand buildings, and demographic, workforce and community data. Another focus has been helping businesses work through their talent and workforce challenges and offering new programming to address those areas.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 80% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 98% 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

MIXED - A large share of total spending goes to programs and most voting board members are independent. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and few specific pay-setting methods are documented in the filing; unanswered boxes are not proof of absence.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 64
  • Transparency & Controls: 50
  • Accountability: 63
  • Sustainability: 71
  • Growth: 40

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 55.7%; rating input score 56
  • Program expense ratio: 98.5%; rating input score 99
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 92.3%; rating input score 92; 10th 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: Scored; rating input score 0
  • Grant itemization coverage: 53.8%; rating input score 54; 16th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 60%; rating input score 60; 9th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 6 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 67
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Fail
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 44.9%; rating input score 91; 91st percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.04; rating input score 62; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.14; rating input score 52; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 8.3%; rating input score 36; 36th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -3.7% per year; rating input score 0; 6th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 0.7% per year; rating input score 100; 14th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -9.2% per year; rating input score 0; 2nd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 55.7% of revenue deployed · 98.5% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 3 of 5 board members independent · 6 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $4.7M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $490K · 8 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 21 of 23 current checks pass · 2 findings to review
  • Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 5 filing years from 2019 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 8 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 9 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: Mission deployment rate scored 56/100.
  • High — Transparency & Controls: Pay-setting controls scored 0/100.
  • High — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight scored 0/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 9 not reported.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Grant itemization coverage scored 54/100.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 36/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 52/100.