Lauderdale County Foundation for Excellence in Education
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 881498388
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2025–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025, Form 990-N 2024
- Location
- Meridian, MS, USA
- Phone
- 6016931683
- Rating
- 68
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Educational Services and Schools - Other
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $212,947
- Expenses
- $208,350
- Assets
- $11,727
- Liabilities
- $0
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
6 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Marie Roberts (Volunteer Executive Director)
People named in this filing
- Cheryl Thomas (Board Member)
- Bethany Stringer (Board Member)
- Deanna Smith (Board Member)
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
The Lauderdale County School District Foundation partners with our community to enhance public education across 11 campuses, supporting more than 900 faculty and staff and nearly 6,000 students and their families. We fund classroom innovation, student support programs, and educator recognition, ensuring every learner has the opportunity to thrive. The Foundation is committed to bringing inspiration and innovation to the Lauderdale County School District. Our goals focus on enhancing learning opportunities and fostering student success through three key funding areas: direct support for teachers, direct support for students, and district advancement and operations.
What it reported doing in 2025
Retirement Reception, Rating Banners, and Award Plaques
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 100% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- Distribution model
- Grant intermediary. The nonprofit sent 100% of its reported program spending out as grants.
- Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.
The verdict
SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. A relatively small share of voting board members are independent and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 88
- Transparency & Controls: 92
- Accountability: 18
- Sustainability: 38
- Growth: NotEnoughData
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 97.7%; rating input score 98
- Program expense ratio: 99.9%; rating input score 100
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th 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: 0%; rating input score 0; 8th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 3 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 43
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
- Whistleblower policy: Fail
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- 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: 2.2%; rating input score 41; 41st percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.06; rating input score 5; 5th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 77; 77th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 67; 67th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: Limited
- Revenue growth: Limited
- Asset growth: Limited
Details
- Where the money goes: 97.7% of revenue deployed · 99.9% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 0 of 5 board members independent · 3 of 7 filing controls reported
- Programs: 5 filed program accomplishments · $208K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 6 people listed
- Consistency: 41 of 41 current checks pass
- Schedules: 3 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- 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: Independent voting board scored 0/100.
- Moderate — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 6 not reported.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 5/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 41/100.