Minnesota Bonsai Society
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 237432539
- IRS 990-EZ coverage
- 2023–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990-EZ 2025, Form 990-N 2022
- Location
- St Louis Park, MN, USA
- Phone
- 9526988868
- Rating
- 76
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $51,192
- Expenses
- $45,314
- Assets
- $63,104
- Liabilities
- $4,530
Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
14 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- NICHOLAS EHLERS (PRESIDENT)
People named in this filing
- NICHOLAS EHLERS (PRESIDENT)
- STEVE HOLZGRAEFE (TREASURER)
- CHERYL SYKORA (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-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Founded in 1971 to inspire participation and appreciation in the art of bonsai. Our mission is the promotion and delivery of bonsai education, outreach, and programming for all skill levels, from novice to expert.
What it reported doing in 2025
Provide variety of special programs and activities for all levels of bonsai knowledge and skills.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
- 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. Program spending has declined or grown slowly and total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 75
- Transparency & Controls: 82
- Sustainability: 54
- Growth: 60
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 71.4%; rating input score 71
- Program expense ratio: 80.6%; rating input score 81
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 51st percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Limited
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 11.5%; rating input score 62; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.39; rating input score 56; 56th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.07; rating input score 16; 16th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 56; 56th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: -5.7% per year; rating input score 0; 34th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 6.1% per year; rating input score 100; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 10.4% per year; rating input score 100; 71st percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 71.4% of revenue deployed · 80.6% of spending went to programs
- Governance: Filed governance answers
- Accomplishments: 1 filed program accomplishment · $37K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 14 people listed
- Consistency: 7 of 7 current checks pass
- Schedules: 1 filed schedules
- Filing history: 3 filing years from 2023 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- 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 — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 56/100.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 16/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 56/100.