Southern Mutual Help Association Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 720696092
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2010–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025
- Location
- New Iberia, LA, USA
- Phone
- 3373673277
- Rating
- 58
- Verdict
- MIXED
- Rating confidence
- Standard
- Sector
- Rural Economic Development
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $-1,576,180
- Expenses
- $514,100
- Assets
- $236,124
- Liabilities
- $699,306
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
7 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- LORNA BOURG (President)
Highest reported compensation
- LORNA BOURG (President): $265,327 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Southern Mutual Help Association, Inc.s mission is to build strong, healthy and prosperous rural communities, with a special emphasis on women, low-income families and people of color.
What it reported doing in 2025
RURAL RECOVERY AND DEVELOPMENT SMHAs Rural Recovery and Development program provides assessment, planning, relief, recovery, and comprehensive redevelopment in economically distressed and disaster-impacted rural communities, including new construction of homes and renovation of homes, preservation of home ownership, promotion of new home ownership, provision of affordable housing for low and moderate-income families, leadership development through training and technical assistance, and facilitating conversations, cooperation and understanding among varied stakeholders. The program also includes addressing environmental concerns and assisting farmers and fishers with socio-economic challenges.
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
MIXED - The filed numbers largely add up and most voting board members are independent. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and program spending has declined or grown slowly.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 37
- Transparency & Controls: 83
- Accountability: 87
- Sustainability: 13
- Growth: 0
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 8.3%; rating input score 8
- Program expense ratio: 66.4%; rating input score 66
- Fundraising efficiency: $146.99 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 91; 91st percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
- Compensation committee: Pass
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
- Written employment contract: Missing
- Compensation survey or study: Pass
- Board or committee approval: Pass
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: Limited
- Major donor itemization: Limited
- Related-party transparency: Yes; rating input score 100
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 77.8%; rating input score 78; 26th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 8 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 100
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: Pass
- Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -132.6%; rating input score 15; 15th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.46; rating input score 19; 19th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 2.96; rating input score 1; 1st percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 51.6%; rating input score 4; 4th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: -8.7% per year; rating input score 0; 29th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: -14.6% per year; rating input score 0; 24th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: -6.8% per year; rating input score 0; 17th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 8.3% of revenue deployed · 66.4% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 7 of 9 board members independent · 8 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $341K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $265K · 7 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $62K reported
- Consistency: 27 of 27 current checks pass
- Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes executive pay and related organizations
- Filing history: 16 filing years from 2010 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
- Related organizations: 3 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.
Key Signals
Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.
- High — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 8/100.
- High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
- High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 15/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 19/100.
- High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 1/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 4/100.