Meat Foundation

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
541734274
IRS 990 coverage
2013–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Arlington, VA, USA
Phone
2025874200
Rating
81
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$4,226,202
Expenses
$4,151,089
Assets
$3,988,309
Liabilities
$1,534,961

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

Leadership & pay

23 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • JULIE ANNA POTTS (PRESIDENT AND CEO)
  • SUSAN BACKUS (PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • JULIE ANNA POTTS (PRESIDENT AND CEO): $843,110 total reported compensation
  • MARK DOPP (SECRETARY & TREASURER): $570,714 total reported compensation
  • ANNE HALAL (CHIEF EXPERIENCE OFFICER): $409,930 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

The meat foundation's mission is to advance scientific understanding, cultivate future leaders, and support continuous improvement in the meat industry. This is achieved through research, education, and scholarships.

What it reported doing in 2024

Beef board: the operating committee of the beef board contracts with the foundation to oversee and administer applied research related to the post-harvest safety of u.s. Beef products and disseminate the research and other scientific information to beef processors. Foundation activities provide practical, science-based research that can be used by in-plant personnel and others to ensure the safety of the supply. The foundation oversees a panel of industry and academic experts and practitioners to establish research priorities and evaluate proposals. Based upon their recommendations, research contracts are awarded based on merit and priority need. After the award, foundation staff closely monitor the research contracts to ensure timely and complete research work products are available for distribution to the industry. Dissemination of research results and other scientific information is also undertaken by foundation staff. The beef board reimburses the foundation for the direct costs of the research contracts and dissemination activities. In addition, administrative and management costs incurred by the foundation to administer the research and communication programs are also reimbursed. By law, the operating committee and the beef board contract with established national, nonprofit, industry-governed organizations like the foundation to implement programs of promotion, research, consumer information, industry information, foreign marketing and producer communications. Contractors are reimbursed only for the work they actually do for the beef board and are not allowed to make a profit from a checkoff contract. Checkoff funds cannot be used to influence government policy or action, including lobbying.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 77% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 94% 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

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Few specific pay-setting methods are documented in the filing; unanswered boxes are not proof of absence and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 82
  • Transparency & Controls: 76
  • Accountability: 91
  • Sustainability: 36
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 92.1%; rating input score 92
  • Program expense ratio: 92.7%; rating input score 93
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 0 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 0
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Missing
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Yes; rating input score 100

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 7 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 78
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Fail
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 1.8%; rating input score 40; 40th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.96; rating input score 36; 36th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.38; rating input score 28; 28th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 9.4%; rating input score 32; 32nd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 9.9% per year; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 6.8% per year; rating input score 100; 53rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 10% per year; rating input score 100; 59th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 92.1% of revenue deployed · 92.7% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 15 of 15 board members independent · 7 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 5 filed program accomplishments · $3.8M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $843K · 23 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 1 contractor listed · $210K reported
  • Consistency: 31 of 31 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 10 filing years from 2013 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 4 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 5 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.

  • High — Transparency & Controls: Pay-setting controls scored 0/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 9 not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 40/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 36/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 28/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 32/100.