Searchlight New Mexico News

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
813234552
IRS 990 coverage
2018–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Santa Fe, NM, USA
Phone
5058191251
Rating
79
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Humanities Organizations

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$44,713
Expenses
$701,073
Assets
$0
Liabilities
$0

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

Leadership & pay

9 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • MARTIN KAISER (PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • RICK HERRMAN (EX.DIRECTOR): $11,000 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Searchlight New Mexico news delivers high-impact investigative reporting to inspire new mexicans to demand action on systemic problems that plague New Mexico.

What it reported doing in 2025

In august 2025 searchlight's board of directors elected to wind up its operation and distribute its net assets to a public charity, effecting a corporate dissolution as required by its bylaws and New Mexico statutes. Searchlight perceives its mission is best continued by transferring all of its remaining assets, and related obligations to New Mexico community foundation for the benefit and use of the fund.nmf serves as the fiscal agent for the fund. The fund is a fiscally sponsored fund of the New Mexico foundation and was formed and established with nmf in 2024, the fund is a philanthropic initiative of the 175-year-old santa fe new mexican. In accordance with nmsa 1978, section 53-08-48, searchlight hereby elects to transfer its net assets to nmf, and on behalf of the fund.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 98% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 97% 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: 84
  • Transparency & Controls: 94
  • Accountability: 74
  • Sustainability: 4
  • Growth: 40

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 79.9%; rating input score 80
  • Fundraising efficiency: $0.92 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 14; 14th percentile among comparable filings

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: 100%; rating input score 100; 81st 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: 3 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 38
    • 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: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -1,467.9%; rating input score 3; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0; rating input score 3; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: Limited
  • Officer compensation ratio: 1.6%; rating input score 15; 15th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 3.6% per year; rating input score 100; 60th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -9.4% 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 · 79.9% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 8 of 8 board members independent · 3 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $560K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $11K · 9 people listed
  • Consistency: 27 of 27 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
  • Filing history: 8 filing years from 2018 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 1 filed related-organization link
  • 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.

  • Moderate — Accountability: Governance controls: 4 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 14/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 3/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 3/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 15/100.