Southbound Food Festival

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
883547404
IRS 990 coverage
2022–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Birmingham, AL, USA
Phone
2053134111
Rating
82
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Cultural, Ethnic Awareness

Reported finances

Revenue
$541,251
Expenses
$596,092
Assets
$44,292
Liabilities
$0

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

Leadership & pay

7 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • CATHERINE SLOSS JONES (PRESIDENT)
  • LEIGH SLOSS-CORRA (VICE PRESIDENT)

People named in this filing

  • CATHERINE SLOSS JONES (PRESIDENT)
  • LEIGH SLOSS-CORRA (VICE PRESIDENT)
  • JOHN PICKERING (DIRECTOR)

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

The mission of southbound food fest is to educate local and non-local attendees about birmingham's and Alabama's dynamic culinary culture and traditions. This festival will promote education about the interconnectedness of Alabama's food and culture, as well as issues of deeper cultural significance, for example, how food is woven into every aspect of daily life, and how food played a critical role in the civil rights movement.

What it reported doing in 2025

One of southbound's key purposes is to support the annual birmingham festival. The mission is to celebrate birmingham's dynamic culinary industry with events, presentations, panel discussions, music, poetry and other community gatherings. Through this annual food event, southbound provides a platform where people can come together to learn about the region's rich culture, experience all birmingham has to offer, and discuss issues of deeper cultural significance.the southbound food festival is dedicated to equity, the arts, sustainability, and community growth. Southbound is committed to all forms of the culinary arts, with passion, reverence for tradition and excitement for innovation.the southbound food festival has now grown from the inaugural four-day festival to a 10-day event hosting chefs, mixologists, brewers, artists, artisans and food ambassadors from across the us to collaborate with the acclaimed food community in Alabama. The festival highlights the diverse flavors, history and culture of Alabama, features chefs and beverage professionals, and entertained guests from across several states and canada. Additionally, southbound food festival highlighted non-profit organizations such as the Alabama humanities alliance, les dames d'escoffier among other art and cultural programs in Alabama. In addition, the southbound food festival supported sustainability in the community by utilizing all compostable materials, which resulted in keeping pounds of waste from area landfills and also delivered pounds of compost to area farms. The festival continues to build on the foundation laid in previous years, with a stronger focus on women and minority chefs and food entrepreneurs, farmers, and artists, with a more urgent goal of building community and promoting cooperation and collaboration between different groups, which has been particularly challenging of late. The attendance continues to grow, creating more awareness of the organization's mission and purpose and growing interest in increasing its impact in the years to come.

Operating model

Revenue model
Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
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. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 88
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 70
  • Sustainability: 27
  • Growth: 80

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 97.3%; rating input score 97
  • 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: 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: 2 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 29
    • 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: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -10.1%; rating input score 13; 13th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.07; rating input score 4; 4th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 88; 88th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 78; 78th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 36.6% per year; rating input score 100; 91st percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 28.7% per year; rating input score 100; 90th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -4.3% per year; rating input score 0; 7th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 97.3% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 7 of 7 board members independent · 2 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $580K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 7 people listed
  • Highest-paid contractors: 1 contractor listed · $186K reported
  • Consistency: 19 of 19 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 4 filing years from 2022 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: 4 of 6 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 13/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 4/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.