Mother Hubbard's Cupboard of Wilmington Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 581797761
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2020–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2016
- Location
- Wilmington, NC, USA
- Phone
- 9107622199
- Rating
- 85
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $2,010,729
- Expenses
- $1,739,887
- Assets
- $1,590,958
- Liabilities
- $14,021
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
12 people listed
People named in this filing
- Roxann Lansdowne (Chairman of the Board)
- Beverly Cochran (Treasurer)
- Amy Bostock (Vice-Chair)
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 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Mother Hubbard's Cupboard serves the hungry in the Wilmington area through distribution of emergency food. This service is provided without discrimination by volunteers in collarboration with community organizations and businesses with care to preserve the dignity of the individuals served.
What it reported doing in 2025
Mother Hubbard's Cupboard operates an emergency food distribution program serving individuals and families experiencing food insecurity in the Wilmington area. In 2025, the all-volunteer organization distributed approximately 1,118,613 pounds of food to 76,671 individuals, representing a 5% increase from 2024 and a 14% increase from 2023. Those served included children (38%), seniors (25%), unhoused individuals, and clients with special dietary needs. Food was distributed through regular service hours and community partnerships, including collaboration with the Food Bank of Central & Eastern North Carolina and participation in programs serving high-need Medicaid enrollees.Mother Hubbard's Cupboard is a valued partner of the Food Bank of Central & Eastern North Carolina and is one of the Food Bank's largest distributors for New Hanover County. We are proud of not only the quantity, but the quality of the food we provide our clients. Last year we bought cereal, milk, fresh produce, diabetic food supplies and meat when necessary to supplement the food we received from all other sources. In addition to the organization's regular weekly service for clients, the agency also provided food for a collaboration with Wilmington Housing Authority and Wilmington Police Department to deliver food to elderly Housing Authority residents at Christmas. Additionally, Mother Hubbard's provided food to a local church which sets up warming stations for the unhoused on particularly cold nights.The HOP program ended in August.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 95% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- Distribution model
- Grant intermediary. The nonprofit sent 93% of its reported program spending out as grants.
- Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.
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 total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 81
- Transparency & Controls: 94
- Accountability: 82
- Sustainability: 59
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 85.7%; rating input score 86
- Program expense ratio: 98.6%; rating input score 99
- 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: 100%; rating input score 100; 75th percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- 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: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Fail
- CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
- 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: 13.5%; rating input score 63; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.91; rating input score 31; 31st percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.01; rating input score 79; 79th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 90; 90th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 14.1% per year; rating input score 100; 73rd percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 15.3% per year; rating input score 100; 80th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 18.7% per year; rating input score 100; 82nd percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 85.7% of revenue deployed · 98.6% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 12 of 12 board members independent · 4 of 7 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $1.7M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 12 people listed
- Consistency: 24 of 24 current checks pass
- Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
- Filing history: 6 filing years from 2020 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: Resolved incoming and outgoing counterparties from filed money flows.
- 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: 2 of 6 not reported.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 31/100.