Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 363454285
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2011–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024
- Location
- Owatonna, MN, USA
- Phone
- 5074553215
- Rating
- 86
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Economic Development
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $10,999,337
- Expenses
- $8,218,110
- Assets
- $80,878,325
- Liabilities
- $9,024,009
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
21 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- TIMOTHY PENNY (PRESIDENT/CEO)
- BRIAN CONZEMIUS (VICE PRESIDENT/CFO)
Highest reported compensation
- TIMOTHY PENNY (PRESIDENT/CEO): $201,925 total reported compensation
- BRIAN CONZEMIUS (VICE PRESIDENT/CFO): $158,059 total reported compensation
- PAMELA BISHOP (VP OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT): $147,605 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Southern Minnesota initiative foundation is a regional development and philanthropic organization that fosters economic and community vitality in 20 counties of southern Minnesota through a culture of collaboration and partnership, with a focus on entrepreneurs and early childhood development.
What it reported doing in 2024
Southern Minnesota initiative foundation provides grants, educational resources and technical assistance to local governments, community partnerships and nonprofit organizations in early childhood education. The early childhood program provides resources that strengthen early childhood efforts so that young children will have a healthy life of learning, achieving and succeeding.
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 63% of its reported program spending out as grants.
- Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.
The verdict
STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 83
- Transparency & Controls: 84
- Accountability: 95
- Sustainability: 79
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 85.6%; rating input score 86
- Program expense ratio: 85.1%; rating input score 85
- Fundraising efficiency: $21.94 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 59; 59th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 94.7%; rating input score 95; 24th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 5 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 83
- Compensation committee: Pass
- Independent consultant: Pass
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
- Written employment contract: Missing
- Compensation survey or study: Pass
- Board or committee approval: Pass
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: 73.4%; rating input score 73; 15th 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; 66th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 8 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 89
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: Pass
- 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: 25.3%; rating input score 86; 86th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 9.84; rating input score 91; 91st percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.11; rating input score 72; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 9.1%; rating input score 24; 24th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 9.5% per year; rating input score 100; 68th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 6.5% per year; rating input score 100; 56th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 5.9% per year; rating input score 100; 42nd percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 85.6% of revenue deployed · 85.1% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 16 of 16 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $7M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $202K · 21 people listed · 5 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Consistency: 38 of 39 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
- Filing history: 14 filing years from 2011 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 113 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 102 filed related-organization links
- 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.
- Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.
Key Signals
Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.
- Review — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 59/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Other executive compensation review process not reported.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 24/100.
- Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.