Anderson County Volunteer Fire Department

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
141944484
IRS 990 coverage
2020–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Rocky Top, TN, USA
Phone
8658051365
Rating
78
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate

Reported finances

Revenue
$85,233
Expenses
$90,086
Assets
$345,373
Liabilities
$0

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

Leadership & pay

11 people listed

People named in this filing

  • JOE GILLIAM (CHAIR)
  • BENJAMIN WHITE (SECRETARY)
  • GEORGE SEIBER (BOARD MEMBER AND ASSIST CHIEF)

Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.

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

Overview

Mission

Provide fire prevention/protection to Anderson Co. & in particular, the area within a 6 mile radius of the fire station, render fire prevention or protection or other humanitarian service when federal, state, municipal, local, or Anderson Co Volunteer Fire Department requests.

What it reported doing in 2025

One other particular program that the Fire Department conducted at the request of the Tennessee State Fire Marshalls office is that it provided and installed smoke detectors in 2025 in homes that requested them. The smoke detectors are provided free of charge to the Fire Department and the Fire Department installs and instructs the residents on the use of the detectors. The Fire Department does not charge anyone for this service. The Fire Department also does not incur any expenses in conducting this program, as the state of Tennessee freely provides the detectors and the volunteer firefighters provide the service for free.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 90% 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

SUPPORTED - 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 program spending has declined or grown slowly.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 86
  • Transparency & Controls: 90
  • Accountability: 70
  • Sustainability: 50
  • Growth: 0

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 98.8%; rating input score 99
  • Program expense ratio: 93.5%; rating input score 93
  • 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: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 2 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 29
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -5.7%; rating input score 45; 45th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 3.83; rating input score 48; 48th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 66; 66th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 58; 58th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -2.2% per year; rating input score 0; 42nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -0.1% per year; rating input score 0; 56th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -2.3% per year; rating input score 0; 27th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 98.8% of revenue deployed · 93.5% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 11 of 11 board members independent · 2 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $84K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 11 people listed
  • Consistency: 19 of 19 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 6 filing years from 2020 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • 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.

Grant-readiness screening is separate from the live rating, not a measure of program quality. Review the source records before making a grant decision.

  • High — Accountability: Governance controls: 4 of 6 not reported.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 45/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 48/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 58/100.
  • High — Grant Readiness: Automatic revocation: this organization had its federal tax-exempt status automatically revoked.