Lunar Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
844699429
IRS 990 coverage
2020–2023
Forms available
Form 990 2023
Location
St Paul, MN, USA
Phone
6515040184
Rating
77
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$186,924
Expenses
$628,660
Assets
$0
Liabilities
$0

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2023. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

5 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • ANDREA DAVILA (PRESIDENT)
  • DANIELLE STEER (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR/SECRETA)

Highest reported compensation

  • DANIELLE STEER (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR/SECRETA): $107,425 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2023. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Lunar startups is creating equitable entrepreneurial ecosystems by providing education, support, and connectivity to leaders who identify as bipoc, women, lgbtq, and are founding high-impact ventures with the goal of building community wealth and developing entrepreneurial capabilities.

What it reported doing in 2023

In 2023, lunar executed the fourth virtual and sixth full cohort serving 18 entrepreneurs. Lunar's team, including the program manager and development manager, added critical capacity. Lunar's sixth cohort brought the total portfolio to 77 companies and gave lunar the statistically significant data to finalize the accelerator methodology. Lunar also finished phase three of an impact assessment that analyzed the economic impact of the cohort companies in Minnesota. To date, lunar alumni have created more than $237 million in economic impact for Minnesota.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 75% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 67% for direct work, and 33% for grants.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 86
  • Transparency & Controls: 89
  • Accountability: 68
  • Sustainability: 3
  • Growth: 40

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 84.8%; rating input score 85
  • Fundraising efficiency: $3.89 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 17; 17th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 93.3%; rating input score 93; 26th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 97%; rating input score 97; 58th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 80%; rating input score 80; 21st percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 4 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • 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: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -236.3%; rating input score 1; 1st percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0; rating input score 1; 1st percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: Limited
  • Officer compensation ratio: 17.1%; rating input score 22; 22nd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 47.9% per year; rating input score 100; 94th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -11.4% per year; rating input score 0; 6th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -30.5% per year; rating input score 0; 2nd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 84.8% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 4 of 5 board members independent · 4 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $533K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $107K · 5 people listed
  • Consistency: 23 of 24 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
  • Filing history: 4 filing years from 2020 to 2023
  • 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.

  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 17/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 1/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 1/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 22/100.