NW-Links

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
411883549
IRS 990 coverage
2009–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Moorhead, MN, USA
Phone
2182362990
Rating
76
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Nonmonetary Support N.E.C.

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$972,351
Expenses
$900,125
Assets
$2,221,845
Liabilities
$0

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

Leadership & pay

10 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Dan Markert (President)
  • Jeff Lund (Vice President)

People named in this filing

  • Dan Markert (President)
  • Jeff Lund (Vice President)
  • Susan Heusser-Ladwig (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

To assist northwest Minnesota school districts, public library systems and higher education institutions to realize their telecommunications goals, ensure the telecommunications infrastructure meets the needs of our members, and to provide leadership in the application of telecommunications technologies.

What it reported doing in 2024

The Corporation's tax-exempt purpose is to help northwest Minnesota public school districts and public library systems to realize their internet based educational systems goals, to ensure the internet infrastructure meets their needs, and to provide leadership in the application of internet based educational technologies. In FY 2025, 67 school districts and four regional public library systems continued their membership in NW-LINKS. As "anchor tenants" for telecommunications services, our members help make advanced technologies available to businesses and residents of their communities.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 93% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
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 - 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 program spending has declined or grown slowly.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 71
  • Transparency & Controls: 90
  • Accountability: 82
  • Sustainability: 67
  • Growth: 20

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 75.2%; rating input score 75
  • Program expense ratio: 87.8%; rating input score 88
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

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: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 4 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 57
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Fail
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 7.4%; rating input score 56; 56th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.47; rating input score 70; 70th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 91; 91st percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 81; 81st percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -4% per year; rating input score 0; 9th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -1.3% per year; rating input score 0; 11th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 0.9% per year; rating input score 100; 21st percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 75.2% of revenue deployed · 87.8% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 9 of 9 board members independent · 4 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $790K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 10 people listed
  • Highest-paid contractors: 1 contractor listed · $2.9M reported
  • Consistency: 19 of 19 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 16 filing years from 2009 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • 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 — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 56/100.