Big Star Lake Association
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 382295340
- IRS 990-EZ coverage
- 2021–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990-EZ 2025, Form 990-N 2014
- Location
- Grand Rapids, MI, USA
- Rating
- 87
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $36,116
- Expenses
- $40,492
- Assets
- $64,744
Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
5 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Lew Gorbach (co-president)
- Tom Seeley (co-president)
- Kristine White (vice-president)
People named in this filing
- Lew Gorbach (co-president)
- Gary Bissonette (Treasurer)
- Jeff Frasier (Secretary)
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
Monitor Big Star Lake water quality and enhance lake experience for landowners
What it reported doing in 2025
Website maintenance Insurance invasive species work geese management water testing LSA membership Fishing contest Donations to local lake groups misc.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
- 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. Expenses are high relative to revenue and assets have declined or grown slowly.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 97
- Transparency & Controls: 82
- Sustainability: 37
- Growth: 80
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
- Program expense ratio: 92.6%; rating input score 93
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 51st percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Limited
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -12.1%; rating input score 27; 27th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.6; rating input score 60; 60th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: Limited
- Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 56; 56th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 23.1% per year; rating input score 100; 83rd percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 0.6% per year; rating input score 100; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: -0.1% per year; rating input score 0; 37th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 92.6% of spending went to programs
- Governance: Filed governance answers
- Accomplishments: 4 filed program accomplishments · $37K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 5 people listed
- Consistency: 6 of 6 current checks pass
- Schedules: 1 filed schedules
- Filing history: 5 filing years from 2021 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.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 27/100.
- High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 56/100.