Alaska Trails
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 731677483
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2014–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Anchorage, AK, USA
- Phone
- 9073348049
- Rating
- 79
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Parks and Playgrounds
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $1,681,639
- Expenses
- $1,441,227
- Assets
- $697,950
- Liabilities
- $35,612
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
11 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Steve Cleary (Executive Director)
- Shirley Banks (President)
- Kate Ginsbach (Vice President)
Highest reported compensation
- Steve Cleary (Executive Director): $94,484 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Building partnerships, building trails. Working to build trails across the state and build capacity for trail organizations.
What it reported doing in 2024
Projects/partners: Alaska Trails Initiative-Alaska Trails is leading this initiative which is a coalition of trails organizations from around the state collaborating with leaders in government, business, the health industry, and the non-profit sector to invest more in the trails we love. People and communities across Alaska recognize that outdoor recreation supports health, contributes to a high quality of life and, perhaps more importantly, drives spending that supports business, creates jobs, and generates tax revenue that pays for schools and other public services. Investing in outdoor infrastructure attracts employers, residents, retirees, and a skilled workforce, ensuring those communities thrive economically and socially. More than one job in ten in Alaska is tied to tourism and outdoor recreation spending. Smart investments could further grow this dynamic sector. In this vein, the Alaska Long Trail project seeks to connect 500 miles from Seward to Fairbanks.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Grant-funded. 85% of the money available for current operations came from government grants.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The filing allocates 99% 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
SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. The filing does not identify recipients for some grant dollars and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 85
- Transparency & Controls: 73
- Accountability: 79
- Sustainability: 51
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 80.8%; rating input score 81
- Program expense ratio: 94.2%; rating input score 94
- Fundraising efficiency: $42.19 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 75; 75th 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: 33.5%; rating input score 34; 27th 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: 4 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 50
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Fail
- Document-retention policy: Fail
- CEO compensation review process: Pass
- 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: 14.3%; rating input score 69; 69th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.48; rating input score 23; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.05; rating input score 52; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 6.6%; rating input score 49; 49th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 26.2% per year; rating input score 100; 88th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 25.6% per year; rating input score 100; 90th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 27.7% per year; rating input score 100; 89th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 80.8% of revenue deployed · 94.2% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 10 of 10 board members independent · 4 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $1.4M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $94K · 11 people listed
- Consistency: 29 of 30 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
- Filing history: 11 filing years from 2014 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 2 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.
Key Signals
Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Grant itemization coverage scored 34/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 7 not reported.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 23/100.
- Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 49/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 52/100.