Bear Backers
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 953389523
- IRS 990-EZ coverage
- 2022–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990 2018, Form 990-EZ 2025, Form 990-N 2020
- Location
- Big Bear Lake, CA, USA
- Rating
- 58
- Verdict
- MIXED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $104,478
- Expenses
- $84,085
- Assets
- $80,462
- Liabilities
- $0
Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
4 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- NICHOLE HESTER (PRESIDENT)
- MELISSA GILE (VICE PRESIDENT)
People named in this filing
- NICHOLE HESTER (PRESIDENT)
- HEATHER BISCOTTI (SECRETARY)
- MELISSA GILE (VICE PRESIDENT)
Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.
Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Support athletics programs at bbhs
What it reported doing in 2025
Facility fees and equipment purchases
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Other-operating. 79% of the money available for current operations came from other operating revenue.
- 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
MIXED - The filed numbers largely add up and revenue comfortably covers expenses. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and a relatively small share of total spending goes to programs.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 37
- Transparency & Controls: 82
- Sustainability: 66
- Growth: 60
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 33.5%; rating input score 34
- Program expense ratio: 41.6%; rating input score 42
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Limited
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 19.5%; rating input score 70; 70th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.96; rating input score 57; 57th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 74; 74th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 63; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: -10.1% per year; rating input score 0; 15th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 9% per year; rating input score 100; 61st percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 3.4% per year; rating input score 100; 37th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 33.5% of revenue deployed · 41.6% of spending went to programs
- Governance: Filed governance answers
- Accomplishments: 3 filed program accomplishments · $35K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 4 people listed
- Consistency: 7 of 7 current checks pass
- Schedules: 2 filed schedules
- Filing history: 4 filing years from 2022 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.
- Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 34/100.
- Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Program expense ratio scored 42/100.
- High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 57/100.
- High — Grant Readiness: California registration: this organization is not authorized to operate as a charity in California.