The American Legion Boys State
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 237362431
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2020–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025
- Location
- Warrensburg, MO, USA
- Phone
- 8168762600
- Rating
- 77
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $1,168,505
- Expenses
- $965,527
- Assets
- $415,813
- Liabilities
- $146,507
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
13 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- JOHN BUCKWALTER (STATE COMMANDER/PRESIDENT)
People named in this filing
- JOHN BUCKWALTER (STATE COMMANDER/PRESIDENT)
- BRADFORD LEAR (DIRECTOR THRU 10/24/25)
- LOWRY FINLEY-JACKSON (SECRETARY)
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 purpose of this association is to organize, supervise, procure and maintain a program for functional citizenship training for young men; to instruct, direct, and assist young men in the organization of political administrative units comparable to states, counties, and cities; to furnish a program whereby the young men shall select from their number officers for the administration of said units; to promote an interest in and an understanding of americanism.
What it reported doing in 2025
The american legion boys state of Missouri provides 8 days of school including room & board, with special programs to teach american and state government. We had approximately 831 participants in 2025.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Earned-program. 78% 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. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 68
- Transparency & Controls: 86
- Accountability: 88
- Sustainability: 50
- Growth: 80
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 67.5%; rating input score 67
- Program expense ratio: 81.8%; rating input score 82
- Fundraising efficiency: $9.37 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 33; 33rd percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 93.3%; rating input score 93; 24th 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: 5 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 71
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Fail
- CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 17.4%; rating input score 69; 69th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.43; rating input score 21; 21st percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.35; rating input score 17; 17th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 78; 78th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 24.3% per year; rating input score 100; 84th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 21.5% per year; rating input score 100; 84th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: -8.1% per year; rating input score 0; 4th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 67.5% of revenue deployed · 81.8% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 53 of 53 board members independent · 5 of 7 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $790K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 13 people listed
- Consistency: 24 of 25 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 6 filing years from 2020 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.
- Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 33/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 7 not reported.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 21/100.
- High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 17/100.