Local Media Association

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
520914204
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Lake City, MI, USA
Phone
2318398651
Rating
73
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$2,252,037
Expenses
$1,934,545
Assets
$3,020,530
Liabilities
$650,331

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

Leadership & pay

27 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • JULIA CAMPBELL (CO-CEO)
  • NANCY CAWLEY LANE (CEO EMERITUS)
  • JOHN SMALL (CO-CEO)

Highest reported compensation

  • JOHN SMALL (CO-CEO): $314,802 total reported compensation
  • NANCY CAWLEY LANE (CEO EMERITUS): $281,731 total reported compensation
  • JULIA CAMPBELL (CO-CEO): $235,022 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Local media association is intensely focused on helping media companies discover new and sustainable business models. The future of local journalism depends on this.

What it reported doing in 2025

Latidobeat is a new initiative that strengthens hispanic media. Latidobeat brings together an initial cohort of seven of the leading spanish-language publishers, leveraging their credability, reach, and deep community roots to create a unified platform for latino voices. Latidobeat is being developed as a shared engine for innovation - offering new pathways for growth, revenue, and collaboration. It is grounded in four strategic pillars shaping the future of local journalism: equity, engagement, infrastructure, and visibility.

Operating model

Revenue model
Other-operating. 73% of the money available for current operations came from other operating revenue.
Distribution model
Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 71% for direct work, and 29% for grants.

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 total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 55
  • Transparency & Controls: 77
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 49
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 58.7%; rating input score 59
  • Program expense ratio: 66.7%; rating input score 67
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 92.9%; rating input score 93; 14th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 4 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 67
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 75.5%; rating input score 75; 26th 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: 9 of 9 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: Pass
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 14.1%; rating input score 64; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.56; rating input score 49; 49th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.22; rating input score 34; 34th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 95.1%; rating input score 0; 0th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 6.8% per year; rating input score 100; 45th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 8.8% per year; rating input score 100; 61st percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 6.9% per year; rating input score 100; 43rd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 58.7% of revenue deployed · 66.7% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 17 of 17 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $1.3M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $315K · 27 people listed · 4 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 29 of 30 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes grants and executive pay
  • Filing history: 14 filing years from 2010 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 37 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 24 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.

  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 59/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 49/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 0/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 34/100.