Northeast Indiana Local Food Network Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
873630075
IRS 990 coverage
2025–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2023
Location
Fort Wayne, IN, USA
Phone
2602412260
Rating
69
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Food, Agriculture, and Nutrition N.E.C.

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$207,088
Expenses
$167,944
Assets
$131,889
Liabilities
$5,888

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

Leadership & pay

16 people listed

Highest reported compensation

  • Karen Petersen (Executive Dir.): $59,231 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

We collaborate with partners across Northeast Indiana and beyond to cultivate a resilient local food system that connects our communities, reduces food insecurity, creates prosperity for our farms, and nourishes all our families.

What it reported doing in 2025

NEILFN advanced its mission through three primary pillars: Research & Strategy, Local Food Access, and Community Engagement.HIghlights from our 2025 year in review:-Double-Up Allen County yielded $120,655 in economic impact.-HEAL: Marketing, Outreach & Education resulted in $75,000 in local produce sold through 23 Farm Markets in 3 locationsTogether, these programs engaged 14,324 area residents-Our on-line resource guide grew by 31%-We mobilized 47 volunteers and hosted 119 community events.Please see Schedule O for further information.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 80% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 87% 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 - 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 fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 70
  • Transparency & Controls: 78
  • Accountability: 61
  • Sustainability: 47
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 67.6%; rating input score 68
  • Program expense ratio: 82.8%; rating input score 83
  • Fundraising efficiency: $12.07 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 42; 42nd percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 84.6%; rating input score 85; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 72.1%; rating input score 72; 49th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 86.7%; rating input score 87; 26th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 2 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 25
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 18.9%; rating input score 70; 70th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.79; rating input score 35; 35th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.04; rating input score 28; 28th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 35.3%; rating input score 8; 8th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: Limited
  • Revenue growth: 45.4% per year; rating input score 100; 96th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 41.4% per year; rating input score 100; 94th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 67.6% of revenue deployed · 82.8% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 13 of 15 board members independent · 2 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $139K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $59K · 16 people listed
  • Consistency: 23 of 25 current checks pass · 2 findings to review
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
  • 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.

  • High — Accountability: Governance controls: 5 of 7 not reported.
  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 42/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 35/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 8/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 28/100.