Mountain State Spotlight Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
851154363
IRS 990 coverage
2020–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Charleston, WV, USA
Phone
3042206080
Rating
79
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Media, Communications Organizations

Reported finances

Revenue
$1,314,503
Expenses
$1,203,766
Assets
$779,795
Liabilities
$90,109

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

Leadership & pay

9 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Ken Ward Jr (President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Ken Ward Jr (President): $121,548 total reported compensation
  • SARA CRICKENBERGER (Executive Dir.): $117,408 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

To serve the general public as an independent, civic news organization that tells stories of importance to West Virginians about issues and challenges facing their communities.

What it reported doing in 2025

Operation of digital news room serving universally-accessible information focused on major issues facing West Virginians, including public health threats, economic development challenges, environment issues, and government accountability. In 2025, the Organization continued its investigation of West Virginia's troubled foster care system, finding that state officials were returning millions of dollars meant to help foster youth transition to adulthood by providing assistance with educational opportunities, housing, and other needs. Following the Organization's reporting, state lawmakers passed a bill requiring foster care system officials to "maximize" their use of those federal funds and file a public report on their progress. The Organization reported extensively on data centers proposed around the state, lifting up the concerns of citizens about those projects, and published stories about ways the state's budget is shortchanging community needs, such as reducing funds for public schools while spending $300 million on a private school voucher program. The Organization also wrote repeatedly about the need to help West Virginians with rising costs of child care services, and lawmakers responded by passing legislation that addresses parts of that crisis. At the end of 2025, the Organization's website had an average monthly readership of 50,000 visitors and its weekly email newsletter had 15,000 subscribers, with stories continuing to be republished by newspapers and other online outlets around the state.

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

SUPPORTED - The filed numbers largely add up and a large share of available resources goes toward mission work. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 60
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 40
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 59.8%; rating input score 60
  • Program expense ratio: 64.6%; rating input score 65
  • Fundraising efficiency: $15.4 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 48; 48th percentile among comparable filings

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: 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: 9 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 100
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: Pass
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 8.4%; rating input score 53; 53rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.65; rating input score 31; 31st percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.12; rating input score 33; 33rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 19.9%; rating input score 16; 16th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 20.4% per year; rating input score 100; 80th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 18.6% per year; rating input score 100; 81st percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 15.4% per year; rating input score 100; 70th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 59.8% of revenue deployed · 64.6% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 7 of 7 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $778K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $122K · 9 people listed
  • Consistency: 29 of 29 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 5 filing years from 2020 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 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.

  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 48/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 53/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 31/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 16/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 33/100.