Lillian's List Action Fund

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
453278117
IRS 990 coverage
2018–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Raleigh, NC, USA
Phone
9198349008
Rating
73
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Community Recreational Centers

Reported finances

Revenue
$228,237
Expenses
$368,873
Assets
$143,400
Liabilities
$21,915

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

Leadership & pay

21 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Sarah Preston (Former Executive Director)
  • Montica Talmadge (Interim Executive Director)

Highest reported compensation

  • Montica Talmadge (Interim Executive Director): $72,598 total reported compensation
  • Sarah Preston (Former Executive Director): $53,897 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Lillian's List recruits, trains and supports progressive women, who are champions of reproductive freedom and equity for women, to run for public office in North Carolina. Through our Action Fund, we provide strategic guidance and political training to women leaders across North Carolina who are interested in running for political office. The Lillian's List PAC supports pro-choice, progressive women running for the General Assembly and Council of State.

What it reported doing in 2024

Training & Campaign Camp - Program goal is to identify emerging women leaders and provide them with the hard skills to become more civically engaged and seek leadership opportunities, including running for public office. Lillian's List has trained over 800 potential leaders since our founding and over 120 trainees in the last year. We offered 7 different trainings offered over the course of the year.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 87% 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 a large share of available resources goes toward mission work. A relatively small share of total spending goes to programs and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 67
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 90
  • Sustainability: 11
  • Growth: 0

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 87%; rating input score 87
  • Program expense ratio: 53.8%; rating input score 54
  • Fundraising efficiency: $1.83 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 9; 9th percentile among comparable filings

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: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 6 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 75
    • 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: Fail
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -61.6%; rating input score 4; 4th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.39; rating input score 20; 20th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.15; rating input score 22; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 34.3%; rating input score 9; 9th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -1.6% per year; rating input score 0; 25th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -7% per year; rating input score 0; 8th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -0.9% per year; rating input score 0; 21st percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 87% of revenue deployed · 53.8% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 20 of 20 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $198K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $73K · 21 people listed
  • Consistency: 27 of 27 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 6 filing years from 2018 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 1 filed related-organization link
  • 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.

  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Program expense ratio scored 54/100.
  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 9/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 4/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 8 not reported.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 20/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 9/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 22/100.