Lake County Public Library

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
356006653
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Merrillville, IN, USA
Phone
2197693541
Rating
75
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Libraries

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$15,260,800
Expenses
$14,547,837
Assets
$40,526,886
Liabilities
$0

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

Leadership & pay

9 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • LAWRENCE ACHEFF (PRESIDENT)
  • SEAN CONLEY (VICE PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • CAROL DAUMER GUTJAHR (DIRECTOR): $119,420 total reported compensation
  • JOHN BROCK (TREASURER): $110,293 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 provide the highest quality informational, educational, cultural and recreational resources and services to residents of all ages in the lake county public.

What it reported doing in 2024

Providing library services to lake county Indiana residents

Operating model

Revenue model
Other-operating. 93% of the money available for current operations came from other operating revenue.
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. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and revenue has declined or grown slowly.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 75
  • Transparency & Controls: 90
  • Accountability: 63
  • Sustainability: 67
  • Growth: 40

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 83%; rating input score 83
  • Program expense ratio: 86.3%; rating input score 86
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 90%; rating input score 90; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 66th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 1 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 12
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 4.7%; rating input score 53; 53rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.79; rating input score 73; 73rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 99; 99th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 1.6%; rating input score 80; 80th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 1.8% per year; rating input score 100; 18th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -0.1% per year; rating input score 0; 8th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -1.5% per year; rating input score 0; 7th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 83% of revenue deployed · 86.3% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 7 of 7 board members independent · 1 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $12.6M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $119K · 9 people listed
  • Highest-paid contractors: 2 contractors listed · $755K reported
  • Consistency: 22 of 23 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 14 filing years from 2010 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
  • 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.

  • High — Accountability: Governance controls: 6 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 53/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.