St Mary's Ems

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
411805811
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Detroit Lakes, MN, USA
Phone
2188470817
Rating
74
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Ambulance, Emergency Medical Transport Services

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$14,938,000
Expenses
$15,895,836
Assets
$10,869,391
Liabilities
$2,120,991

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

15 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • MARK THOMPSON MD (PRESIDENT/BOARD DIRECTOR THRU 7/24)
  • KEVIN BOREN (VICE PRESIDENT, FINANCE)
  • STEFANIE GEFROH ELLISON MD (PRESIDENT & BOARD DIRECTOR)
  • RYAN HILL (FORMER INTERIM PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • TRACI MORRIS (TREASURER/REL ORG CHIEF FINCL OFF): $1,199,416 total reported compensation
  • BRADLEY BEARD (BOARD CHAIR & RELATED ORG COO): $1,179,194 total reported compensation
  • MICHAEL WATTERS (SECRETARY/REL ORG CHIEF LEGAL OFF): $924,527 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

We are called to make a healthy difference in people's lives.

What it reported doing in 2024

St. Mary's ems, dba essentia health ems, is created and organized exclusively for charitable, religious, educational, and scientific purposes. More specifically, essentia health ems is created and organized to own, maintain, operate and conduct, directly or indirectly, emergency medical and transportation services and to assist and coordinate activities of facilities for health care, care for the aged and social services in accordance with the charitable works tradition of the roman catholic church.essentia health ems provides emergency medical and community paramedic services in the counties of aitkin, becker, carlton, cass, itasca, kanabec, norman, pine, polk, and st. Louis in Minnesota. Essentia health ems employs approximately 130 full time equivalents. Essentia health ems transported nearly 10,000 patients during the fiscal year ended june 30, 2025.essentia health is the parent organization of an integrated health system that includes this organization and all entities that are owned or controlled, directly or indirectly, by essentia health (collectively, the "system or "essentia health").

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 97% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
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

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. A relatively small share of voting board members are independent and expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 82
  • Transparency & Controls: 90
  • Accountability: 42
  • Sustainability: 22
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 95.1%; rating input score 95
  • Program expense ratio: 89.3%; rating input score 89
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 4 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 67
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • Independent consultant: Pass
    • 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: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Yes; rating input score 100

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 0%; rating input score 0; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 9 of 9 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: Pass
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -6.4%; rating input score 14; 14th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.68; rating input score 24; 24th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.2; rating input score 59; 59th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 12.4%; rating input score 13; 13th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 20% per year; rating input score 100; 90th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 15.8% per year; rating input score 100; 87th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 6% per year; rating input score 100; 42nd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 95.1% of revenue deployed · 89.3% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 0 of 3 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $14.2M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $1.2M · 15 people listed · 4 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 32 of 32 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors, executive pay, and related organizations
  • Filing history: 15 filing years from 2010 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 6 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 27 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 — Accountability: Independent voting board scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 14/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 24/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 13/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 59/100.