Mobile Area Lodging Corporation

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
823457106
IRS 990 coverage
2020–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-N 2019
Location
Mobile, AL, USA
Phone
2514713267
Rating
85
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Chambers of Commerce & Business Leagues

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$1,234,693
Expenses
$1,405,447
Assets
$831,451
Liabilities
$0

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

Leadership & pay

11 people listed

People named in this filing

  • KENT BLACKINTON (CHAIR / PRES)
  • DAVID CLARK (NON-VOTING D)
  • RACHEL DAVIS (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. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

The purpose of the corporation is to promote common interests of and improve the business conditions for mobile lodging businesses by serving as the district management corporation for the mobile tourism improvement district and other programs and initiatives.

What it reported doing in 2024

The mobile area lodging corporation (corporation) collects assessments from hotels within its tourism improvement district (district). Assessments funded marketing and communications initiatives that promote tourism, focusing on increasing overnight stays in the city of mobile. These initiatives include search engine marketing (sem), digital display banner advertising, online travel agency (ota) advertising, social media advertising, media print advertising, and sponsored public relations press trips. In addition, the corporation funds capital improvement projects designed to enhance visitor experience and encourage repeat visitors to the district. These projects include; purchase of basketball/volleyball courts used by mobile convention center, funding for africatown heritage house landscaping, purchase of visit mobile interactive kiosks, tillman's corner beautification and gateway initiative, national maritime museum's jimmy buffett tribute exhibit, downtown mural installation, security patrol services for the tillman's corner and i-65 corridor hotels, amtrak transportation to downtown, and wayfinding signage. Tourism improvement accomplishments: 18.4 million impressions through multichannel advertising across search engines, social media & google platforms 551 thousand clicks through multichannel advertising across search engines, social media & google platforms 28.2 million impressions from digital display advertising 76 thousand clicks from digital display advertising 1.1 million impressions from digital out of home advertising 2.6 million in gross hotel room booking revenue from expedia campaign 15,322 room nights booked at tid properties through expedia campaign 340 thousand overnight visits through trackable devices since october (source: arrivalist) 3,907 bookings from 7-month hotelbeds advertising campaign 467,846 google views through threshold 360 virtual tour photography 1,765,574 in booking revenue global distribution systems campaign

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 98% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
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. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 88
  • Transparency & Controls: 90
  • Accountability: 82
  • Sustainability: 34
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 97.5%; rating input score 97
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 4 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 57
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -13.8%; rating input score 13; 13th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.59; rating input score 27; 27th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 91; 91st percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 81; 81st percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 23.9% per year; rating input score 100; 86th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 4% per year; rating input score 100; 37th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 8.5% per year; rating input score 100; 53rd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 97.5% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 9 of 9 board members independent · 4 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $1.4M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 11 people listed
  • Consistency: 18 of 18 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 2 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 5 filing years from 2020 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • 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.

  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 13/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 27/100.