Missouri Appleseed

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
823588706
IRS 990 coverage
2019–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2022, Form 990-N 2018
Location
St Louis, MO, USA
Phone
6083334429
Rating
82
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Behavioral Science

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$288,253
Expenses
$353,481
Assets
$161,182
Liabilities
$104,962

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

18 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • MARY QUANDT (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR (FROM JULY 1, 2025))
  • ELIZABETH WEISS (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)
  • BRANDON HALL (PRESIDENT)
  • ALEX RANKIN (VICE PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • MARY QUANDT (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR (FROM JULY 1, 2025)): $88,175 total reported compensation
  • ELIZABETH WEISS (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $46,385 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Missouri appleseed believes all Missouri families deserve the opportunity to thrive. Through research, advocacy, and education, Missouri appleseed works to improve the systems and policies at the intersection of public health, criminal justice, and child welfare.

What it reported doing in 2025

The criminal justice reform - Missouri appleseed helped ensure families stay together by educating the public, attorneys, and judges on the existence of legislation requiring judges to consider the effects of parental incarceration when sentencing nonviolent primary caretakers of dependent children. Missouri appleseed also researched the treatment of mentally ill detained defendants. Missouri appleseed also worked to ensure that jails provide pregnant women with improved nutrition and prenatal vitamins while incarcerated. Missouri appleseed hosted a free continuing legal education session on the intersection of parent rights, civil rights, and child welfare.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 98% 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

STRONG - 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 expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 77
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 90
  • Sustainability: 13
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 89.9%; rating input score 90
  • Program expense ratio: 73.3%; rating input score 73
  • Fundraising efficiency: $6.35 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 26; 26th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th 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: 6 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 75
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • 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: -22.6%; rating input score 10; 10th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.46; rating input score 23; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.65; rating input score 7; 7th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 38.1%; rating input score 7; 7th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 10.1% per year; rating input score 100; 67th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 7.2% per year; rating input score 100; 59th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 6.3% per year; rating input score 100; 50th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 89.9% of revenue deployed · 73.3% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 16 of 16 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $259K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $88K · 18 people listed
  • Consistency: 27 of 27 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 4 filing years from 2019 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 4 filed money-flow records
  • 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 26/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 10/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 23/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 7/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 7/100.