Norway House

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
201129254
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024
Location
Minneapolis, MN, USA
Phone
6128017702
Rating
68
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Cultural, Ethnic Awareness

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$7,501,683
Expenses
$3,063,708
Assets
$22,147,488
Liabilities
$287,989

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

Leadership & pay

30 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Christina Carleton (Executive Director)

Highest reported compensation

  • Christina Carleton (Executive Director): $125,000 total reported compensation
  • Elizabeth Moorhead (Director of Finance): $75,803 total reported compensation
  • Max Stevenson (Chief of Staff): $75,002 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Norway House connects the United States with contemporary Norway through art, culture, and business.

What it reported doing in 2024

The Norwegian American is a 20- to 28- page+ tabloid-sized newspaper, published 12 times a year in English with two to three pages in Norwegian. Sections include news from Norway, business, sports, opinion, research & science, travel, food & drink, arts & entertainment, Norwegian heritage, Norwegian language resources, and news from the Norwegian-American community. Special expanded issues, produced roughly every third issue, include more color pages to focus in-depth on a subject of interest to Norwegian Americans. A weekly email newsletter highlighting the top stories of each issue.

Operating model

Revenue model
Grant-funded. 67% of the money available for current operations came from government grants.
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 most voting board members are independent. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and a relatively small share of total spending goes to programs.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 37
  • Transparency & Controls: 87
  • Accountability: 91
  • Sustainability: 84
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 23.2%; rating input score 23
  • Program expense ratio: 56.3%; rating input score 56
  • Fundraising efficiency: $13.23 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 47; 47th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 94.1%; rating input score 94; 23rd 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; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 7 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 78
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 59.2%; rating input score 94; 94th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 7.23; rating input score 88; 88th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.01; rating input score 84; 84th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 9%; rating input score 33; 33rd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 13.7% per year; rating input score 100; 75th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 18.2% per year; rating input score 100; 86th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 20.1% per year; rating input score 100; 84th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 23.2% of revenue deployed · 56.3% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 27 of 27 board members independent · 7 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 5 filed program accomplishments · $1.7M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $125K · 30 people listed
  • Consistency: 36 of 37 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 12 filing years from 2010 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 3 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 — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 23/100.
  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Program expense ratio scored 56/100.
  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 47/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 9 not reported.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 33/100.