Laurel Highlands

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
251093334
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Ligonier, PA, USA
Phone
7242385661
Rating
82
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate

Reported finances

Revenue
$5,421,888
Expenses
$5,309,818
Assets
$12,543,681
Liabilities
$9,405,220

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

Leadership & pay

17 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Elizabeth Ann Nemanic (Executive Director)

Highest reported compensation

  • Elizabeth Ann Nemanic (Executive Director): $135,716 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

To promote tourism, tourism development, and the interest of the travel & hospitality industries located in the laurel highlands, generally comprising fayette, somerset, and westmoreland counties.

What it reported doing in 2025

Partner with various organizations in implementing year-round seasonal marketing campaigns to enhance awareness of the laurel highlands as a travel destination through direct sales, marketing, public relations, branding, and visitor services.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 97% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
Distribution model
Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 61% for direct work, and 39% for grants.

The verdict

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Expenses are high relative to revenue and some filed totals do not add up.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 72
  • Transparency & Controls: 88
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 44
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 80%; rating input score 80
  • Program expense ratio: 84%; rating input score 84
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 92.9%; rating input score 93; 14th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 97.7%; rating input score 98; 39th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 8 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 100
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 2.1%; rating input score 34; 34th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.36; rating input score 63; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.75; rating input score 9; 9th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 2.6%; rating input score 72; 72nd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 18.9% per year; rating input score 100; 82nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 5% per year; rating input score 100; 37th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 13.6% per year; rating input score 100; 70th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 80% of revenue deployed · 84% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 16 of 16 board members independent · 8 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $4.5M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $136K · 17 people listed
  • Consistency: 32 of 33 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes grants
  • Filing history: 11 filing years from 2010 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 85 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 77 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.

  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 34/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 9/100.