The Arc of Lehigh and Northampton Counties

Legal name: The Arc of Lehigh and Northampton Counties Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
231679102
IRS 990 coverage
2011–2024
Official website data refreshed
Sep 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Bethlehem, PA, US
Phone
610-849-8076
Rating
76
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Mental Health Association

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$33,345,622
Expenses
$30,537,461
Assets
$22,408,163
Liabilities
$1,527,544

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

Leadership & pay

20 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • MATTHEW MCCONNELL (IMM. PAST PRESIDENT)
  • GEORGE LEWIS (PRESIDENT)
  • CARRY GERBER (VICE PRESIDENT)
  • KAREN SHOEMAKER (FORMER CEO)
  • LISA MUSSELMAN (CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER)

Highest reported compensation

  • SHANNON MILLER (CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER): $162,268 total reported compensation
  • KAREN SHOEMAKER (FORMER CEO): $125,251 total reported compensation
  • LISA MUSSELMAN (CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER): $99,308 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

The Arc of Lehigh and Northampton Counties champions a life of inclusion, opportunity, and equity for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) through advocacy, education, and supports.

What it reported doing in 2024

Sparc: the sparc program is both a community-based program and a state-licensed adult facility program that services adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities (idd) in lehigh, northampton, and surrounding counties. The sparc program is designed to provide opportunities for people with idd to explore interests, develop skills, and participate in their communities in a supportive, inclusive environment. The sparc program addresses each person's unique needs through a person-centered approach to help program participants develop daily living skills through communication, socialization, habilitation, and community integration. The sparc program delivers community participation supports (cps), which offers opportunities for personal growth in integrated community settings. The sparc program also delivers adult facility-based service, which provides an accessible environment with adaptive equipment to build skills and explore interests. Program participants can choose to engage in a variety of options based on their abilities and personal choice that includes community volunteerism, community activities, daily living skills, pre-employment skills, and facility-based services.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 98% 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 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: 74
  • Transparency & Controls: 62
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 57
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 80.4%; rating input score 80
  • Program expense ratio: 87.9%; rating input score 88
  • Fundraising efficiency: $1.34 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 4; 4th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 94.1%; rating input score 94; 20th 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; 66th 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: 8.4%; rating input score 64; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.73; rating input score 26; 26th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.07; rating input score 79; 79th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 1.3%; rating input score 83; 83rd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 12.5% per year; rating input score 100; 78th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 13.1% per year; rating input score 100; 83rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 13.7% per year; rating input score 100; 77th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 8 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 3 operating locations identified
  • Where the money goes: 80.4% of revenue deployed · 87.9% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 17 of 17 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $26.8M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $162K · 20 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 34 of 35 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 13 filing years from 2011 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 3 filed money-flow records
  • 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 — Transparency & Controls: Pay-setting controls scored 0/100.
  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 4/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 26/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.