21St Century Parks Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
201780317
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Louisville, KY, USA
Phone
5025843912
Rating
86
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Parks and Playgrounds

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$5,661,967
Expenses
$8,123,549
Assets
$93,590,293
Liabilities
$1,072,525

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

Leadership & pay

15 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • DAVID MORGAN (PRESIDENT AND ASST TREASURER)
  • SAM STEWART (VICE PRESIDENT OF DEVELOPMENT AND ADMINISTRATION)

Highest reported compensation

  • DAVID MORGAN (PRESIDENT AND ASST TREASURER): $375,152 total reported compensation
  • SAM STEWART (VICE PRESIDENT OF DEVELOPMENT AND ADMINISTRATION): $174,895 total reported compensation
  • LISA M JESSIE (CONTROLLER): $132,858 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

21st century parks serves as a steward entrusted to preserve and sustain unexcelled parklands that reflect the needs and values of our whole community. The goal of the parklands of floyds fork is to operate a world-class, systemic addition to louisville's park system; if done right, the outcome is the creation of the finest urban edge in the country.

What it reported doing in 2025

Recreation:21st century parks inc. Develops, funds and operates the parklands of floyds fork. This over 4,000-acre public park is complete, making it the largest urban park system built in the nation in at least the last 20 years. Even more unique, this park charges no admission fee and operates without receiving annual public tax dollars for operations. In 2025, the parklands hosted nearly 4 million visitors from across the region. These visitors hiked and biked the 46 miles of multi-use trails, paddled 22 miles of floyds fork and played games on 20 multi-use sports fields. In collaboration with partners, 21st century parks stocked more than 10,000 fish in the parklands lakes and streams for the angling community, provided 81 plots for community gardens and registered almost 400 dog owners at the barklands dog park. Area individuals and businesses contributed 1,500 volunteer hours in the parklands.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 77% 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.
  • 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: 89
  • Transparency & Controls: 84
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 40
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 87.1%; rating input score 87
  • Fundraising efficiency: $11.05 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 39; 39th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 4 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 67
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
    • 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: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd 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: -43.5%; rating input score 2; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 11.52; rating input score 89; 89th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.01; rating input score 77; 77th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 11.4%; rating input score 30; 30th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 6.5% per year; rating input score 100; 44th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -8.9% per year; rating input score 0; 1st percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 2% per year; rating input score 100; 17th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 87.1% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 9 of 9 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $7.1M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $375K · 15 people listed · 4 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 3 contractors listed · $621K reported
  • Consistency: 30 of 30 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 16 filing years from 2010 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 5 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 1 filed related-organization link
  • 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 — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 39/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 2/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 30/100.