Trellis Co.

Legal name: Trellis Co

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
411699606
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2025
Official website data refreshed
Sep 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-T 2025
Location
Saint Paul, MN, US
Phone
651-642-1120
Rating
75
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Housing Development, Construction, Management

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$36,829,884
Expenses
$25,193,279
Assets
$242,685,604
Liabilities
$139,949,561

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

Leadership & pay

11 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • ELIZABETH FLANNERY (PRESIDENT AND CEO AND CHAIR)
  • KAREN REID (PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • ELIZABETH FLANNERY (PRESIDENT AND CEO AND CHAIR): $282,568 total reported compensation
  • DAN WALSH (VP OF HOUSING DEVELOPMENT): $258,368 total reported compensation
  • LISA FISCHER (COO): $238,785 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

To provide affordable housing for community members by working with entities that know them well, complementing rather than competing with organizations that raise revenue through community fundraising.

What it reported doing in 2025

Community housing development corporation provides quality affordable housing to persons of low and moderate income. Hud section 8 subsidizes the rent provided certain income guidelines are met. The corporation owns 34 properties at december 31, 2025: 1 bossen terrace (diamond hill) minneapolis, mn 66 units 2 boxleitner (higher ground) minneapolis, mn 85 units 3 evergreen hutchinson, mn 62 units 4 hamline saint paul, mn 58 units 5 jefferson townhomes minneapolis, mn 5 units 6 lasalle apartments minneapolis, mn 63 units 7 new beginnings minneapolis, mn 4 units 8 ramsey hill saint paul, mn 54 units 9 redeemers arms saint paul, mn 151 units 10 slater square minneapolis, mn 163 units 11 veterans administration minneapolis, mn 140 units 12 willows apartments little falls, mn 56 units 13 woodland court apts park rapids, mn 80 units 14 zinsmaster minneapolis, mn 36 units 15 e flats lp minneapolis, mn 20 units 16 franklin lane apartments anoka, mn 66 units 17 chdc i lp minneapolis, mn 92 units 18 park plaza lp minneapolis, mn 134 units 19 longfellow lp minneapolis, mn 24 units 20 chdc buffalo lp buffalo, mn 48 units 21 chdc morrison lp minneapolis, mn 57 units 22 chdc elliot lp 23 east town parking llc minneapolis, mn 24 golf view llc cokato, mn 48 units 25 brandes place lp fridley, mn 16 units 26 visitation place lp saint paul, mn 16 units 27 chdc dakota studio lp apple valley, mn 36 units 28 androy lp hibbing, mn 48 units 29 trellis hillside gardens acquisition llc proctor, mn 45 units 30 trellis Louisiana court acquisition llc st. Louis park, mn 56 units 31 trellis flour exchange acqusitions llc minneapolis, mn commercial 32 chdc chanellor manor lp burnsville, mn 200 units 33 trellis creamette acquisition llc minneapolis, mn 100 units 34 trellis lyndale acquisition llc minneapolis, mn additionally, the corporation is a general partner in 29 limited partnerships, a limited partner in 1 limited partnership, has control of nonprofit organization formed to own affordable housing, is the sole owner of a maintenance company that provides maintenance services for various properties, and is also the sole owner of a for-profit real estate management corporation.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 79% 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.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - 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 liabilities are high compared with assets.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 65
  • Transparency & Controls: 80
  • Accountability: 84
  • Sustainability: 73
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 59.8%; rating input score 60
  • Program expense ratio: 95.2%; rating input score 95
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 2 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 33
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • 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: 80%; rating input score 80; 13th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 8 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 89
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • 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: 31.6%; rating input score 85; 85th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 9.63; rating input score 85; 85th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.58; rating input score 21; 21st percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 6%; rating input score 49; 49th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 2.6% per year; rating input score 100; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 7.8% per year; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 8.5% per year; rating input score 100; 59th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 3 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
  • Where the money goes: 59.8% of revenue deployed · 95.2% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 4 of 5 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $24M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $283K · 11 people listed · 2 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 3 contractors listed · $624K reported
  • Consistency: 29 of 29 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 9 filed schedules · includes major donors, executive pay, and related organizations
  • Filing history: 16 filing years from 2010 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 7 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 62 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.

Grant-readiness screening is separate from the live rating, not a measure of program quality. Review the source records before making a grant decision.

  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Other executive compensation review process not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 21/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 49/100.
  • High — Grant Readiness: Federal audit findings: this organization reported findings in its latest federal Single Audit.