Land Peace Foundation

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
850838803
IRS 990 coverage
2022–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Bangor, ME, USA
Phone
2073236248
Rating
70
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Cultural, Ethnic Awareness

Reported finances

Revenue
$1,491,574
Expenses
$1,047,008
Assets
$2,477,804
Liabilities
$522,895

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

Leadership & pay

5 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Sherri Mitchell (Founder, Executive Director)

Highest reported compensation

  • Sherri Mitchell (Founder, Executive Director): $112,250 total reported compensation
  • John Bear Mitchell (Director): $9,000 total reported compensation
  • Darren Ranco (Director): $6,250 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 Land Peace Foundation is an Indigenous led educational organization that is dedicated to preserving the Indigenous way of life and cultivating strong Indigenous leadership. We are also deeply committed to stewarding responsible climate change adaptation and mitigation mechanisms, and developing and implementing environmental equity and justice programs and practices.

What it reported doing in 2024

Fellowship Programs The Wabanaki Leadership Institute (WLI) is an 18-month fellowship program that provides intergenerational leadership training for Indigenous people living and working in Wabanaki territory. The program is designed to create well-trained, culturally grounded leaders for the Wabanaki Nations, and to establish a broad network of leaders within Wabanaki territory who are committed to working cooperatively to advance the interests of all Wabanaki and Indigenous Peoples. The WLI provides existing and emerging leaders with the skills needed to handle the complex challenges that Indigenous Peoples face today. Whether they are spiritual leaders, government leaders, policy makers, academics, health professionals, artists, or public media makers, the WLI provides fellows with valuable tools and resources that support the development and potential of their individual and collective strengths. Our partners in this program include: The Native Programs Department at the University of Maine, American Indian Ambassador Program in New Mexico, Turtle Island Institute in Toronto, and the Maine Leadership Development Foundation. We will be recruiting fellows for our 2025 program at the end of 2024. EcologyShifts Learning Cohort From 2022-2024, the Land Peace Foundation worked to co-design the curriculum for an 18-month ecology-based learning program called EcologyShifts. This pilot-program brought together individuals from organizations across Maine who are committed to work toward greater equity and justice in the environmental field. The program provided participants with an understanding of the diversity of challenges present in the environment and climate field and highlighted some of the key nexus points where impacts and solutions create shared effects. We discussed critical focal points for ecology-based equity and justice work and the leverage points for creating meaningful change. The first cohort provided us with a considerable amount of learning and deepened our understanding of the types of change that are most needed along with additional areas of support that need further development or strengthening. This information will help us as we move the program forward.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 98% 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 most voting board members are independent. 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: 51
  • Transparency & Controls: 86
  • Accountability: 79
  • Sustainability: 67
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 49.4%; rating input score 49
  • Program expense ratio: 70.4%; rating input score 70
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 91.7%; rating input score 92; 12th 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: 4 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Fail
    • Other executive compensation review process: Limited
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 29.8%; rating input score 84; 84th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.37; rating input score 69; 69th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.21; rating input score 30; 30th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 12.2%; rating input score 30; 30th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 55.8% per year; rating input score 100; 96th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 20.8% per year; rating input score 100; 86th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 20.9% per year; rating input score 100; 83rd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 49.4% of revenue deployed · 70.4% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 5 of 5 board members independent · 4 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $737K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $112K · 5 people listed
  • Consistency: 40 of 41 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 3 filing years from 2022 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 3 filed money-flow records
  • 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.

  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 49/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 7 not reported.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 30/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 30/100.