Santa Pal Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
311794923
IRS 990 coverage
2020–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-N 2019
Location
Bristol, VA, USA
Phone
4233830763
Rating
77
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Big Brothers, Big Sisters

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$34,464
Expenses
$56,345
Assets
$16,931
Liabilities
$0

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

Leadership & pay

4 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Lavonda Lockner (President)
  • Vicie Dotson (Vice-President)

People named in this filing

  • Lavonda Lockner (President)
  • Vicie Dotson (Vice-President)
  • Shannon Berry (Treasurer)

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 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Santa Pal, Inc. serves less fortunate youth in Bristol TN/VA & provides Christmas gifts to economically disadvantaged local children to create a positive & memorable holiday.

What it reported doing in 2025

Fundraising is throughout the year by hosting an annual Golf tournament and through sponsorships from local businesses. Applications for Santa Pal recipients are handed out through Bristol VA, Bristol TN city school counselors to lower income families. Parents complete applications & mail to Santa Pal for approval into the program. Sponsors wishing to purchase toys & such for a child contact Santa Pal by phone, email or in person to request information for a childs wish list. The sponsors purchase the items & returns them to the school board office. Santa Pal will then schedule a pick up time for the parents to pick up the gifts purchased by sponsors and gift cards provided by Santa Pal.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 98% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Grant intermediary. The nonprofit sent 100% of its reported program spending out as grants.

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 revenue has declined or grown slowly.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 88
  • Transparency & Controls: 86
  • Accountability: 64
  • Sustainability: 30
  • Growth: 40

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 97.1%; rating input score 97
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 83.3%; rating input score 83; 4th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 84.8%; rating input score 85; 54th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 1 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 14
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • 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: Fail
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -63.5%; rating input score 23; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.3; rating input score 15; 15th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 66; 66th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 58; 58th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 7.7% per year; rating input score 100; 69th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -9.6% per year; rating input score 0; 31st percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -5.3% per year; rating input score 0; 19th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 97.1% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 4 of 4 board members independent · 1 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $55K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 4 people listed
  • Consistency: 12 of 14 current checks pass · 2 findings to review
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
  • Filing history: 6 filing years from 2020 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 — Accountability: Governance controls: 5 of 6 not reported.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 23/100.
  • 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: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 15/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 58/100.