Trusted Fraternal Life

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
390201015
IRS 990 coverage
2011–2024
Official website data refreshed
Sep 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Milwaukee, WI, United States
Phone
4142736266
Rating
86
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$162,824,762
Expenses
$158,715,741
Assets
$1,905,498,742
Liabilities
$1,743,981,043

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

Leadership & pay

27 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • John T Borgen (President and Chief Executive Officer)
  • Christopher J Martin (Vice President Compliance)
  • Michael C Eyrich (Vice President Distribution)
  • Rogelio Cabral (Vice President Sales)
  • Linda M Hanson (Vice President Actuary)
  • Sara J Walker (Vice President Investments)

Highest reported compensation

  • John T Borgen (President and Chief Executive Officer): $558,701 total reported compensation
  • Christopher J Martin (Vice President Compliance): $436,940 total reported compensation
  • Kari R Diestelhorst (Chief Financial Officer): $336,058 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Trusted Fraternal Life's purpose is to help members build financial security and strengthen their communities.

What it reported doing in 2024

Fraternal Benefits & Community Outreach: The Society exists to benefit its members and community in non-financial ways. This includes faith based education, fraternal social events and community outreach. The Society is committed to provide fraternal benefits including child cancer and orphan benefits, will preparation benefit and the coordination and support of community service. In addition to monetary contributions, over 109,775 hours of service were donated to support various Diocesan and community programs and events in 2024 valued at nearly $3.7 million.

Operating model

Revenue model
Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
Distribution model
Member-benefit provider. The nonprofit used 76% of its reported program spending for member benefits.

The verdict

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Expenses are high relative to revenue and liabilities are high compared with assets.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 87
  • Transparency & Controls: 88
  • Accountability: 88
  • Sustainability: 54
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 95.7%; rating input score 96
  • Program expense ratio: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 93.8%; rating input score 94; 25th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 4 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 67
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • Independent consultant: Pass
    • 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: 100%; rating input score 100; 77th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Yes; rating input score 100

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 78.6%; rating input score 79; 27th 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: 2.5%; rating input score 45; 45th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 12.01; rating input score 92; 92nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.92; rating input score 11; 11th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 2.9%; rating input score 39; 39th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 1.7% per year; rating input score 100; 14th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 0.8% per year; rating input score 100; 7th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 3.1% per year; rating input score 100; 21st percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: Mission, programs, and operating context captured from the official website.
  • Where the money goes: 95.7% of revenue deployed · 100% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 11 of 14 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $158.7M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $559K · 27 people listed · 4 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $2.3M reported
  • Consistency: 45 of 46 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes grants, executive pay, and related organizations
  • Filing history: 14 filing years from 2011 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 36 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 14 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.
  • Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 45/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 11/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 39/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.