Minnesota Makers & Artists Guild
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 814276921
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2024–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2023, Form 990-N 2020
- Location
- Mankato, MN, USA
- Phone
- 5073877218
- Rating
- 70
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Arts Education
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $257,426
- Expenses
- $128,127
- Assets
- $173,969
- Liabilities
- $0
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
7 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Dustin Swiers (Executive Director)
- Cindy Bourne (President)
Highest reported compensation
- Dustin Swiers (Executive Director): $14,758 total reported compensation
- Shayna Swiers (Education Director): $14,427 total reported compensation
- Tyler J Vaughan (Treasurer): $5,927 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
MN Makers & Artists Guild provides tools, space, education & advocacy for community members to create anything. The community will have access to a variety of art forms and crafts including wood working, metal working, glass blowing, ceramics, jewelry, technology, painting, crafting, sewing, among others. Memberships provide access to our brick & mortar at Mankato Makerspace in which we offer access to tools, teach classes, and create space for community members to achieve in their creative pursuits. We also provide education and advocacy in the performing and culinary arts.
What it reported doing in 2025
We provide young adult/adult/community arts education and making experiences in a variety of crafts and trades throughout the year to members/community members, serving over 700 people.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 64% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- 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 - The filed numbers largely add up and a large share of total spending goes to programs. 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: 63
- Transparency & Controls: 84
- Accountability: 68
- Sustainability: 67
- Growth: 60
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 46.6%; rating input score 47
- Program expense ratio: 93%; rating input score 93
- Fundraising efficiency: $21.39 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 57; 57th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 90%; rating input score 90; 10th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: Limited
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: Limited
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 2 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 22
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Fail
- Document-retention policy: Fail
- CEO compensation review process: Fail
- Other executive compensation review process: Fail
- Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Missing
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 50.2%; rating input score 91; 91st percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.36; rating input score 49; 49th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 77; 77th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 31.4%; rating input score 10; 10th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: -17.1% per year; rating input score 0; 7th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 21.8% per year; rating input score 100; 88th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 39.5% per year; rating input score 100; 93rd percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 46.6% of revenue deployed · 93% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 7 of 7 board members independent · 2 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $119K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $15K · 7 people listed
- Consistency: 40 of 41 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 3 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 2 filing years from 2024 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 5 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
- 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 47/100.
- High — Accountability: Governance controls: 6 of 8 not reported.
- High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
- Review — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 57/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 49/100.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 10/100.