Mount Vernon Library Foundation

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
273319412
IRS 990 coverage
2022–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-N 2021
Location
Mount Vernon, WA, USA
Phone
3603360163
Rating
69
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Single Organization Support

Reported finances

Revenue
$234,447
Expenses
$154,878
Assets
$337,756
Liabilities
$8

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

Leadership & pay

8 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • SUZANNE BUTLER (PRESIDENT)

People named in this filing

  • SUZANNE BUTLER (PRESIDENT)
  • CYRENE WELLS (DIRECTOR)
  • CATHY PFAHL (SECRETARY)

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 mount vernon library foundations principal mission is to foster community support for the library, its board, and its staff.

What it reported doing in 2024

2024 service and accomplishments: we spent the year in many fund-raising endeavors including focused parties, letters to possible donors, asking at service group meetings, contacting grant funding organizations, and putting together a very successful fund-raising event at the lincoln theatre with timothy egan. Organized donations for a donor wall at the new library. Helped library staff with a good-bye party for the old library. Tears, smiles, cookies, and gallons of punch. We established a process for making over our website which is ongoing. Mayor peter donovan attended a meeting to thank us for our fund-raising efforts. We supported the move to the new library with purchase of new books, maker space equipment and gaming supplies for the new teen room, lots of new books and shelves for the childrens room, and special foreign language books. The foundation accepted two bronze statues for the childrens room and a signed karsh photograph of ernest hemingway to increase our collection. We supported a successful dia (childrens day) at hillcrest park where each child attending received a book.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 99% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 91% 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: 89
  • Accountability: 64
  • Sustainability: 73
  • Growth: 20

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 55.2%; rating input score 55
  • Program expense ratio: 82.7%; rating input score 83
  • Fundraising efficiency: $11.44 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 43; 43rd percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 91.7%; rating input score 92; 19th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 80th 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: 1 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 14
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • 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: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 33.9%; rating input score 85; 85th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.18; rating input score 61; 61st percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 59; 59th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 69; 69th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -39.4% per year; rating input score 0; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -14.5% per year; rating input score 0; 4th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 85% per year; rating input score 100; 99th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 55.2% of revenue deployed · 82.7% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 8 of 8 board members independent · 1 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $128K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 8 people listed
  • Consistency: 21 of 22 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
  • Filing history: 3 filing years from 2022 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • Related organizations: 1 filed related-organization link
  • 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 — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 55/100.
  • High — Accountability: Governance controls: 5 of 6 not reported.
  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 43/100.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Schedule G fundraiser detail did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 59/100.