The Mercer Chamber Foundation Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
922106918
IRS 990 coverage
2023–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Harrodsburg, KY, USA
Phone
8597342365
Rating
82
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Alliance/Advocacy

Reported finances

Revenue
$167,124
Expenses
$144,691
Assets
$83,543
Liabilities
$0

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

Leadership & pay

10 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • SAM CARR (PRESIDENT)
  • MIKE SANFORD (VICE PRESIDENT)

People named in this filing

  • SAM CARR (PRESIDENT)
  • MIKE SANFORD (VICE PRESIDENT)
  • MIKE INMAN (TREASURER)

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 foundation is acting to assist the mercer chamber of commerce with promoting mercer county by attracting tourists as well as providing education to the citizens of mercer county.

What it reported doing in 2025

The Kentucky heritage jazz festival khjf is an event that showcases jazz music through performance and education. The khjf partners directly with regional collegiate jazz ensembles and their faculty. We provide our collegiate jazz ensembles with expanded performance opportunities to larger audiences, including their musical peers, and provide additional exposure of collegiate music programs in Kentucky to potential students in attendance. The khjf provides jazz workshops, promoting music education to students and adults interested in the jazz genre. The khjf has hands-on, interactive activities at the festival including an instrument petting zoo for children. Our participating jazz artists frequently donate an instrument to a young attendee and interact directly with the youth attendees to share their personal musical journey and promote music education.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 100% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
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

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 79
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 76
  • Sustainability: 54
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 83.9%; rating input score 84
  • Program expense ratio: 96.9%; rating input score 97
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th 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: 3 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 43
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 13.4%; rating input score 62; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.58; rating input score 28; 28th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 77; 77th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 67; 67th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 10.3% per year; rating input score 100; 68th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 5.1% per year; rating input score 100; 48th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 43.4% per year; rating input score 100; 94th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 83.9% of revenue deployed · 96.9% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 10 of 10 board members independent · 3 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $140K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 10 people listed
  • Consistency: 14 of 14 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 3 filing years from 2023 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 — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 6 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 28/100.