South St Paul Educational Foundation
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 411494597
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2010–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025
- Location
- South St Paul, MN, USA
- Phone
- 6514579440
- Rating
- 81
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Fund Raising and/or Fund Distribution
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $1,876,957
- Expenses
- $921,573
- Assets
- $13,810,205
- Liabilities
- $2,871
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
8 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- BRENDA APPLEQUIST (PRESIDENT)
Highest reported compensation
- BETH SKWIRA (EXEC DIRECTO): $96,012 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
The mission and purpose of the south st. Paul educational foundation is to bridge students and donors to enrich learning and impact the lives of south st. Paul school district students. We do this by providing scholarships and supplemental classroom program funding through the support of our generous donors.
What it reported doing in 2025
The south st. Paul educational foundation (sspef) has provided funding for the following during the fiscal year 2025-26. On may 13th the sspef awarded scholarships totaling 614,900 to 133 south st. Paul graduating seniors. These scholarships covered a wide range of dollar amounts and were given to students attending 4-year, 2-year, and technical vocational schools. Sspef also provided program funding for classroom enrichment totaling 110,068. These programs included funding math ixl subscriptions, anatomage tablets for high school science classes, youth frontier courage and kindness retreats for middle school students, guest speakers for classes, theater program support, an active calming center for special education students, young authors conference, one act play scripts, student activity fees for low-income students, winter clothing for students in need, and nature, history and art-based field trips. The foundation's annual walkathon was held in september with students, staff, and families in the community participating. The walkathon funds projects and activities in teacher's classrooms. These monies are critical in providing enhanced opportunities for the students of south st. Paul.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
- Distribution model
- Grant intermediary. The nonprofit sent 87% of its reported program spending out as grants.
The verdict
STRONG - 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: 73
- Transparency & Controls: 94
- Accountability: 72
- Sustainability: 84
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 80.4%; rating input score 80
- Program expense ratio: 75.2%; rating input score 75
- Fundraising efficiency: $8.56 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 30; 30th 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; 78th percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 87.5%; rating input score 88; 24th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 4 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 50
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
- 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: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 50.9%; rating input score 91; 91st percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 14.99; rating input score 94; 94th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 75; 75th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 10.4%; rating input score 36; 36th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 5.7% per year; rating input score 100; 40th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 4.6% per year; rating input score 100; 35th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 7.3% per year; rating input score 100; 45th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 80.4% of revenue deployed · 75.2% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 7 of 8 board members independent · 4 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $693K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $96K · 8 people listed
- Consistency: 26 of 26 current checks pass
- Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
- Filing history: 15 filing years from 2010 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
- 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: 4 of 8 not reported.
- Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 30/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 36/100.