Open Access Connections

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
411821890
IRS 990-EZ coverage
2021–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2025
Location
St Paul, MN, USA
Phone
6516430883
Rating
88
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Human Service Organizations

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$191,286
Expenses
$206,371
Assets
$26,596
Liabilities
$16,385

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

Leadership & pay

15 people listed

People named in this filing

  • Monsuer Herring (Board Member)
  • Cheryl Speeter Margoles (Board Member)
  • Manuel Moore (Executive Committee Member)

Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.

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

Overview

Mission

Facilitating communication services to encourage self-determination and stronger community connections for people in need.

What it reported doing in 2025

Open Access Connections provides the poorest Minnesotans with free communication tools, helping encourage self-determination and stronger community connections. Through grassroots outreach and partnerships with 320 community agencies, we provided free Community Voice Mail to 2,900 homeless and low income Minnesotans, enabling them to find jobs, housing, health care, social services, safety from domestic abuse, and economic stability. We also distributed 1,200 Lifeline supported cell phones to eligible consumers, as well as provided non-partisan voter engagement within the homeless community.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 99% 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

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Revenue has declined or grown slowly and expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 94
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Sustainability: 20
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 96.8%; rating input score 97
  • Program expense ratio: 89.7%; rating input score 90

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 90%; rating input score 90; 1st percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -7.9%; rating input score 16; 16th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.13; rating input score 14; 14th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.62; rating input score 7; 7th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 63; 63rd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 4.6% per year; rating input score 100; 43rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -1.6% per year; rating input score 0; 14th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 3% per year; rating input score 100; 36th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 96.8% of revenue deployed · 89.7% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: Filed governance answers
  • Accomplishments: 1 filed program accomplishment · $185K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 15 people listed
  • Consistency: 9 of 9 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 3 filing years from 2021 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: Resolved incoming and outgoing counterparties from filed money flows.
  • 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 — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 16/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 14/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 7/100.