Upper Midwest Film Office

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
854181615
IRS 990 coverage
2022–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Duluth, MN, USA
Phone
2184611628
Rating
89
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Economic Development

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$1,429,870
Expenses
$1,592,090
Assets
$366,981
Liabilities
$90,411

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

Leadership & pay

7 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • DAN STOCKE (PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • SHARI MARSHIK (EXECUTIVE DI): $110,539 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

To advance the creative economy in northern Minnesota through film, tv and commercial content production. Umfo attracts projects through one-one connections, meetings, festivals and conferences. The office also connects community businesses, local crew, municipal offices and leaders to facilitate production in locations across the region.

What it reported doing in 2024

Umfo assists in creator capacity-building by administrating regional film production incentive programs. This includes connecting with potential projects and showing the breadth and depth of locations for filming, connecting with services and crew in the region and funneling and verification, certification and payment of program incentives, thus funneling outside spend into the local economy.

Operating model

Revenue model
Grant-funded. 92% of the money available for current operations came from government grants.
Distribution model
Grant intermediary. The nonprofit sent 67% of its reported program spending out as grants.

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 expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 94
  • Transparency & Controls: 90
  • Accountability: 90
  • Sustainability: 19
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 93.1%; rating input score 93
  • Fundraising efficiency: $33.76 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 71; 71st percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 92.9%; rating input score 93; 19th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 98.8%; rating input score 99; 47th percentile among comparable filings
  • 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: 6 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 75
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • 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: -11.3%; rating input score 15; 15th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.23; rating input score 11; 11th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.25; rating input score 28; 28th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 6.9%; rating input score 47; 47th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 42.4% per year; rating input score 100; 94th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 33.6% per year; rating input score 100; 93rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 38.5% per year; rating input score 100; 94th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 93.1% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 6 of 6 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $1.5M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $111K · 7 people listed
  • Consistency: 26 of 27 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
  • Filing history: 3 filing years from 2022 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 10 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 9 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.

  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 8 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 15/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 11/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 28/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 47/100.