North Star Community Foundation

Overview

Mission

The North Star Community Foundation NSCF improves the quality of life for Interior Alaska through philanthropy community development and public service.

What it reported doing in 2025

All other regular project programming includes Northwood Books Arts Guild Fairbanks Housing and Homeless Coalition Dark Winter Nights storytelling troupe Fairbanks Skatepark Coalition Chena Tool Library Healing Through Music and Dance Friends of Fox Spring Stars of Gold Readers Friends of SS Nenana and several other member projects under the fiscal sponsorship of the North Star Community Foundation.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 99% 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.

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
870761624
IRS 990 coverage
2021–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2020
Headquarters
Fairbanks, AK, USA
Phone
9079780425
Rating
82
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Community Foundations

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: 81
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 74
  • Sustainability: 52
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 87.6%; rating input score 88
  • Program expense ratio: 95.1%; rating input score 95
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

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; 65th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 3 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 38
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: Fail
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 7.9%; rating input score 51; 51st percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.86; rating input score 40; 40th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 87; 87th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0.5%; rating input score 55; 55th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 40.2% per year; rating input score 100; 92nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 34.4% per year; rating input score 100; 92nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 19.3% per year; rating input score 100; 76th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 87.6% of revenue deployed · 95.1% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 8 of 8 board members independent · 3 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $655K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $4K · 9 people listed
  • Consistency: 41 of 41 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 5 annual filings from 2021 to 2025
  • 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.

Leadership & pay

9 people listed

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: FY2025.