La Crosse Community Foundation

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
396037996
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
La Crosse, WI, USA
Phone
6087823223
Rating
91
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Community Foundations

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$9,312,016
Expenses
$6,758,688
Assets
$89,156,004
Liabilities
$7,559,494

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

Leadership & pay

14 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • CHAD DULL (CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER)

Highest reported compensation

  • CHAD DULL (CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER): $146,402 total reported compensation
  • ERIN BELBY (OPERATIONS DIRECTOR): $124,359 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Connecting people, passion, and giving in the la crosse area forever.

What it reported doing in 2025

Donor-focus activities: working with local donors to establish and administer endowed charitable funds to make noncompetitive grants or scholarships to qualified 501(c)(3) organizations in their philanthropic interest areas. Currently, lcf administers 298 donor-directed funds. In 2025, a total of $3,874,544 were awarded in noncompetitive grants and $373,000 were awarded in scholarships.

Operating model

Revenue model
Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
Distribution model
Grant intermediary. The nonprofit sent 88% of its reported program spending out as grants.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

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 some filed totals do not add up.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 91
  • Transparency & Controls: 89
  • Accountability: 95
  • Sustainability: 78
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 94.9%; rating input score 95
  • Program expense ratio: 91.7%; rating input score 92
  • Fundraising efficiency: $35.44 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 72; 72nd percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 93.8%; rating input score 94; 21st percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 93.1%; rating input score 93; 34th 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: 8 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 89
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 27.4%; rating input score 80; 80th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 13.19; rating input score 91; 91st percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.08; rating input score 51; 51st percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 4%; rating input score 63; 63rd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 9% per year; rating input score 100; 56th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 8.8% per year; rating input score 100; 61st percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 7.7% per year; rating input score 100; 48th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 94.9% of revenue deployed · 91.7% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 11 of 11 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $6.2M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $146K · 14 people listed
  • Consistency: 34 of 35 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
  • Filing history: 16 filing years from 2010 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 111 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 109 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.
  • Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Other executive compensation review process not reported.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 51/100.