The Stonington Free Library Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 060665194
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2012–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Stonington, CT, USA
- Phone
- 8605350658
- Rating
- 86
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Single Organization Support
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $967,528
- Expenses
- $911,041
- Assets
- $7,633,793
- Liabilities
- $41,286
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
16 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- KEVIN BOWDLER (PRESIDENT)
Highest reported compensation
- MICAYLA HALL (LIBRARY DIRE): $81,717 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 stonington free library, inc's purpose is to enrich lives and build community by bringing information, ideas and people together.
What it reported doing in 2024
The library serves over 4,200 card holders with a wide variety of services. We have a collection of over 32,000 print materials and over a million digital library titles. We also provide access to many online subscription services, all free of charge. Our staff and volunteers run off-site book groups at the human services department and at an assisted living facility, as well as 6 little free libraries around town. Our staff runs library programs reaching over 5,000 children through the year to encourage early literacy, including outreach to local schools and organizations, story times, summer and winter reading programs and many special activities. Our adult programs reach over 3,700 throughout the year. We organize lecture series, knitting groups, reading programs, tech help sessions, book clubs, homebound delivery, poetry readings, virtual presentations, inclusive programming, a seed library, museum passes, public access computers, hotspots, chromebooks, kindles and wifi. All of our programs are free to the public.
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
STRONG - 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 expenses are high relative to revenue.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 77
- Transparency & Controls: 92
- Accountability: 95
- Sustainability: 64
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 85.8%; rating input score 86
- Program expense ratio: 79.3%; rating input score 79
- Fundraising efficiency: $7.01 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 27; 27th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd 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; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 7 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 88
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Other executive compensation review process: Fail
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 5.8%; rating input score 52; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 8.38; rating input score 90; 90th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.01; rating input score 73; 73rd percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 9%; rating input score 40; 40th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 4.8% per year; rating input score 100; 41st percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 3.3% per year; rating input score 100; 33rd percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 8.9% per year; rating input score 100; 55th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 85.8% of revenue deployed · 79.3% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 15 of 15 board members independent · 7 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $723K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $82K · 16 people listed
- Consistency: 26 of 26 current checks pass
- Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 13 filing years from 2012 to 2024
- 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.
Key Signals
Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.
- High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 27/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 52/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Other executive compensation review process not reported.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 40/100.