St. Louis Society for the Blind and Visually Impaired

Legal name: St Louis Society for the Blind and Visually Impaired

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
430666768
IRS 990 coverage
2014–2025
Official website data refreshed
Sep 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
St. Louis, MO, US
Phone
314-968-9000
Rating
73
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Eye Diseases, Blindness and Vision Impairments

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$3,332,745
Expenses
$2,080,888
Assets
$20,312,474
Liabilities
$186,319

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

Leadership & pay

22 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • SHARON MERTZLUFFT (PRESIDENT AN)

Highest reported compensation

  • SHARON MERTZLUFFT (PRESIDENT AN): $192,297 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Empower people who are visually impaired or blind.

What it reported doing in 2025

Vision rehabilitation services: individualized vision rehabilitation services are provided to individuals who are visually impaired or blind due to macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy, glaucoma, cataract, traumatic head injury and other medical conditions. Rehabilitative needs addressed include how to best use remaining vision; adaptive daily living skills training; prevention of injuries; emotional and mental health issues; adaptive communication; and family support. Group services address psychological, emotional and social isolation issues affecting an individual's ability to live in a safe, healthy and independent manner. The majority of individuals are referred by their ophthalmologist or other eye care specialist and many are diagnosed with multiple eye conditions. Individuals receive vision rehabilitation services from the society's state or nationally certified and/or licensed low vision therapists, assistive technology specialist, orientation & mobility specialists, social workers, occupational therapist and other related professionals. Individualized rehabilitative training, various AIDS, equipment, devices, technology and adaptive techniques are used to assist in adjusting to vision loss or blindness in order to restore or maintain independence in daily living activites. Services are provided at the society's offices and in-home. Because most individuals are not able to drive due to their vision loss, the society offices are purposely located along key public transportation routes. In addition, the society provides transportaion assistance to ensure all individuals, regardless of income, have access to individualied vision rehabilitation services. Because most vision rehabilitation services and low vision AIDS are not covered by insurance or medicare, care services, devices or other vision rehbilitation AIDS can be provided to individuals at reduced cost if there is an inability to pay.

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.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and most voting board members are independent. Few specific pay-setting methods are documented in the filing; unanswered boxes are not proof of absence and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 61
  • Transparency & Controls: 65
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 80
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 60.4%; rating input score 60
  • Program expense ratio: 73.6%; rating input score 74
  • Fundraising efficiency: $8.69 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 31; 31st percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 0 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 0
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Missing
  • 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; 63rd 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: 37.6%; rating input score 86; 86th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 9.76; rating input score 88; 88th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.01; rating input score 79; 79th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 9.2%; rating input score 36; 36th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 0.5% per year; rating input score 100; 14th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 4.5% per year; rating input score 100; 34th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 2.5% per year; rating input score 100; 20th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 7 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 3 operating locations identified
  • Where the money goes: 60.4% of revenue deployed · 73.6% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 21 of 21 board members independent · 8 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $1.5M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $192K · 22 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 31 of 31 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 10 filing years from 2014 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • 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.

  • High — Transparency & Controls: Pay-setting controls scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 31/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 36/100.