Mcdowell Lfac
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 832141213
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2019–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2018, Form 990-N 2017
- Location
- Marion, NC, USA
- Phone
- 8287488225
- Rating
- 73
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Food, Agriculture, and Nutrition N.E.C.
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $4,113,644
- Expenses
- $2,316,894
- Assets
- $4,305,424
- Liabilities
- $4,744
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
11 people listed
Highest reported compensation
- LESLIE BURLESON (EXEC. DIR.): $89,346 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Mcdowell lfac is a 501(c)(3) organization with a mission to connect, coordinate, and strengthen the local food system in mcdowell county, North Carolina. The organization's goal is to improve the health, income and livelihoods of all community members through building a complete food network of producers, businesses, agencies and not-for-profit organizations. Lfac does this through developing and implementing programs, special projects and supportive food system infrastructure in mcdowell.
What it reported doing in 2024
In 2024, mcdowell local food advisory council, through foothills food hub and the marion tailgate market, advanced a more equitable and resilient local food system for mcdowell county. The organization aggregated and distributed food in partnership with a network of farmers, producers, community organizations, and volunteers while promoting healthy food choices and youth engagement. Lfac invested nearly $500,000 in local farms in 2024 through local food purchases and distributed nearly 16,000 healthy food boxes plus 1,200 produce prescriptions to families enrolled in the healthy opportunities pilot program through medicaid. Lfac also coordinated nearly 9,200 instances of additional household food assistance through food access and relief services and supplied 4,600 food bags to outreach partners serving vulnerable populations with higher barriers to food access, stable housing, and medical treatment. The marion tailgate market grew as a market opportunity for small farms, and increased customer attendance by 90% across 26 market events, in just the second year of lfac operating the market. Volunteers contributed at least 2,870 hours of service towards the organizations mission to ensure healthy food is accessible and local farming is viable. Partnerships with community organizations and schools allowed for youth engagement in culinary and nutrition education.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Earned-program. 80% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The filing allocates 99% 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 most voting board members are independent. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 53
- Transparency & Controls: 80
- Accountability: 95
- Sustainability: 78
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 46.3%; rating input score 46
- Program expense ratio: 82.5%; rating input score 82
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 92.3%; rating input score 92; 10th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: Limited
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: 60.7%; rating input score 61; 17th percentile among comparable filings
- 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: 7 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 88
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
- 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: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 43.7%; rating input score 90; 90th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.86; rating input score 59; 59th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 92; 92nd percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 3.9%; rating input score 62; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 43.7% per year; rating input score 100; 96th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 38.9% per year; rating input score 100; 96th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 38.7% per year; rating input score 100; 96th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 46.3% of revenue deployed · 82.5% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 10 of 10 board members independent · 7 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $1.9M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $89K · 11 people listed
- Consistency: 31 of 32 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
- Filing history: 6 filing years from 2019 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 3 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 2 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.
Key Signals
Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.
- Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 46/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
- Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 59/100.
- Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.