Literacy Volunteers of Southwest Mn

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
454826222
IRS 990 coverage
2016–2017
Forms available
Form 990 2017, Form 990-N 2014
Location
Marshall, MN, USA
Phone
5074017337
Rating
73
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Remedial Reading, Reading Encouragement

Reported finances

Revenue
$119,143
Expenses
$121,368
Assets
$42,625
Liabilities
$756

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2017. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

10 people listed

People named in this filing

  • AL KRUSE (BOARD CHAIR)
  • RICHARD HERDER (VICE CHAIR)
  • JEFFERSON LLE (DIRECTOR)

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 2017. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Lvswmn trains volunteer tutors to work one-on-one with adult learners in order to support them in reaching their literacy goals. We work with youth and familes as well to ensure access to literacy and lifelong learning in the communities we serve. We are able to accomplish this through quality training, dedicated volunteers, strong partnerships with many other community organizations, and literacy advocacy. We believe literacy changes lives for individuals and helps families and communities thrive.

What it reported doing in 2017

Expanding work with southwest Minnesota state university faculty to involve their college students in civic engagements and service learning by tutoring adult learners. Working with a food production business to provide english language instruction for its employees. Developing a new tech tutoring program for adults with the marshall public library. Partnering with the karen organization of Minnesota's marshall office to meet with karen adults and learn from them what their literacy and community needs are. Partnering with marshall public schools, the marshall-lyon county library, southwest Minnesota state university and others to identify and pursue grant and other opportunities to support lower income, immigrant, and refugee families in our service area.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 100% 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 - 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 the required major-donor schedule is missing or incomplete.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 76
  • Transparency & Controls: 75
  • Accountability: 70
  • Sustainability: 36
  • Growth: 80

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 85.5%; rating input score 86
  • Program expense ratio: 83.9%; rating input score 84
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: No; rating input score 0
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 2 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 29
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -1.9%; rating input score 35; 35th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.35; rating input score 19; 19th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.02; rating input score 50; 50th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 72; 72nd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 63.1% per year; rating input score 100; 97th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 38.5% per year; rating input score 100; 96th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -15.4% per year; rating input score 0; 7th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 85.5% of revenue deployed · 83.9% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 10 of 10 board members independent · 2 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $102K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 10 people listed
  • Consistency: 24 of 24 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 2 filing years from 2016 to 2017
  • 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.

Grant-readiness screening is separate from the live rating, not a measure of program quality. Review the source records before making a grant decision.

  • High — Accountability: Governance controls: 5 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Transparency & Controls: Major donor itemization scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 35/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 19/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 50/100.
  • High — Grant Readiness: Automatic revocation: this organization had its federal tax-exempt status automatically revoked.