Adventure Risk Challenge

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
471579462
IRS 990 coverage
2015–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Truckee, CA, USA
Phone
5596765096
Rating
82
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Youth Development Programs

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$1,200,391
Expenses
$1,197,629
Assets
$545,808
Liabilities
$2,444

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

Leadership & pay

9 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Sarah Ottley (Interim Executive Director)

Highest reported compensation

  • Sarah Ottley (Interim Executive Director): $107,138 total reported compensation
  • Melissa Hoffman (Program Director): $87,703 total reported compensation
  • Cristina Navarro (Co-Director): $75,207 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 empower underserved youth through transformational literacy, leadership, and outdoor experiences

What it reported doing in 2024

ARC's Summer Courses for Central Valley youth integrate wilderness expeditions and academic basecamps. Based in Yosemite and Tahoe, these courses facilitate the development of essential leadership and academic skills in alternative classroom settings and on outdoor adventures. Rigorous activities require physical and mental commitment and interpersonal collaboration, while building an ethos for healthy lifestyles, personal empowerment, and environmental stewardship. Challenging leadership and life-skills training focuses on self-management, goal setting, personal responsibility, teamwork, communication, and resilience. Literacy sessions develop skills in critical thinking, reading comprehension, writing, and public speaking. After participating, ARC youth respond more positively to statements including, "I am developing good health habits", and "I deal with frustration in positive ways." They also show a statistically significant increase in all four of the internal asset categories on Search Institute's Developmental Assets Profile (DAP), with the largest increases in Positive Self Identity and Positive Values.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 67% 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.

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: 80
  • Transparency & Controls: 84
  • Accountability: 91
  • Sustainability: 34
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 84.4%; rating input score 84
  • Program expense ratio: 84.1%; rating input score 84
  • Fundraising efficiency: $12.09 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 44; 44th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 90%; rating input score 90; 5th 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; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 7 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 78
    • 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: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 0.2%; rating input score 37; 37th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.46; rating input score 21; 21st percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 74; 74th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 22.5%; rating input score 12; 12th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 17.2% per year; rating input score 100; 79th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 12.4% per year; rating input score 100; 73rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 6.1% per year; rating input score 100; 44th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 84.4% of revenue deployed · 84.1% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 6 of 6 board members independent · 7 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $1M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $107K · 9 people listed
  • Consistency: 39 of 40 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 9 filing years from 2015 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 3 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
  • 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.

  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 44/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 37/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 21/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 12/100.