North Dakota Association of Rural Electric Cooperatives

What it reported doing in 2025

Publications and Graphic Arts Services: NORTH DAKOTA LIVING- Published 12 monthly North Dakota Living magazines, including 1,392 unique local pages for 16 electric cooperatives to communicate with their members. - Launched a redesigned cover, accomplishing one of the recommendations from the North Dakota Living Study Committee, to add colored cooperative logos to the front and back magazine covers and offer more opportunity for local co-op personalization, strengthening the connection North Dakota Living is provided by electric cooperatives. - Selected as a 2025 media partner with the Western ND Honor Flight. Staff members Kennedy DeLap, John Kary and Cally Peterson traveled with 227 veterans on all-expense-paid trips to Washington, D.C., in September to photograph and document the experience, ultimately sharing it with readers in North Dakota Living's first cover-to-cover tribute to veterans published in November. - Completed the four-part Cost of Your Power series, which examined electric industry pressures and how they impact the price of electricity. The series covered supply chain and inflation, wholesale power, and balancing supply and demand. - Introduced North Dakota Living Straight Talk, a collection of communications resources tailored to a North Dakota audience, including local pages articles, general manager columns, social media posts and other content, for co-op communicators to personalize and use in various communications channels. ADVERTISING- Advertising Sales Manager Duane Crabbe hit his highest grossing sales month in February's North Dakota Living, then broke the record three months later with May's travel and tourism issue. - Generated more than $640,000 in advertising revenue to reduce the cost of delivering North Dakota Living to cooperative members. - Procured contracts to sell advertising placements and produce special publications, which reduce the cost of delivering North Dakota Living to electric co-op members. Special publications include the N.D. Travel Guide, N.D. Hunting and Fishing Guide, Big Iron Guide, Bismarck-Mandan Convention and Visitors Bureau Guide, Bottineau-Lake Metigoshe Area Guide and the NDAREC/BAND Member Directory.- Represented electric co-ops at trade shows. GRAPHIC DESIGN AND PHOTOGRAPHY- Conducted the first magazine photo contest. - Designed numerous brochures, reports, logos, signs, graphics and other projects for member-cooperatives and statewide service areas and provided professional photography services for the magazine, co-op meetings, events and members, including headshots and studio photography.

Financial Efficiency

• Mission deployment rate: Limited
• Program expense ratio: Limited
• Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

• Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
• Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
  • Compensation committee: Pass
  • Independent consultant: Missing
  • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
  • Written employment contract: Missing
  • Compensation survey or study: Pass
  • Board or committee approval: Pass
• Foreign activity oversight: Limited
• Grant itemization coverage: Limited
• Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
• Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

• Independent voting board: 95.5%; rating input score 95; 26th 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: -0%; rating input score 26; 26th percentile among comparable filings
• Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.14; rating input score 60; 60th percentile among comparable filings
• Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.5; rating input score 16; 16th percentile among comparable filings
• Officer compensation ratio: 20.8%; rating input score 14; 14th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

• Program expense growth: Limited
• Revenue growth: 4.2% per year; rating input score 100; 31st percentile among comparable filings
• Asset growth: 12.6% per year; rating input score 100; 67th percentile among comparable filings