Black Hills Parks & Forests Association

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
466017180
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Hot Springs, SD, USA
Phone
6057457020
Rating
86
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Parks and Playgrounds

Reported finances

Revenue
$959,392
Expenses
$1,239,088
Assets
$1,865,558
Liabilities
$576,564

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

Leadership & pay

10 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Jamie Ladenburger (President)
  • Patty Ressler (Executive Director)

Highest reported compensation

  • Patty Ressler (Executive Director): $105,965 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Black Hills Parks and Forests Association (BHPFA) is a non-profit cooperating partner with the National Park Service and U.S. Forest Service. Our mission is to support wonder and exploration through steward ship of your public lands. BHPFA supports our public land partners with their interpretive, educational, and research programs that protect and preserve the cultural and natural resources of the Black Hills, Western Nebraska, and surrounding areas. This is accomplished by operating sales outlets in public land locations throughout South Dakota, Wyoming, and Western Nebraska. Purchases from these sites expand the visitor experience beyond park and forest borders and supports interpretive, research, and education programming for our partner agencies. In addition to assisting our partners, BHPFA's secondary mission is committed to creating lifelong learning opportunities for all through our membership and education programs.

What it reported doing in 2024

See Schedule OSales - BHPFA conducts specialty retail sales at 16 partner outlets as well as online and event sales. All products sold provide an educational or interpretive component and help area visitors take their experience beyond park and forest boundaries. Store sales are used to calculate the amount of aid funding provided to our partners. In FY2025, total store, web and outside sales were up 30% compared to the previous year, however, total expenses were up 31%, showing a net 1% down. $96,444 was allocated to the 7 Partners for as aid to parks/forests. Aid expenditures included Jr. Ranger books and badges, interns & seasonal staff, program supplies, and exhibit costs, just to name a few. In addition to the traditional store sales, BHPFA sells items with a donation component for specific partner interpretive initiatives. In May 2024, we entered into an NPS agreement allowing BHPFA to collect donation accounts between our 7 public land partners and in FY2025 generated and managed close to $241,272. Events/Donations/Programs - BHPFA offered more fee based educational programs and events in FY2025, resulting in close to $2,000 worth of program fee generation. We also expanded our membership and donation programs. Membership revenue increased significantly thanks to a grant that provided a more streamlined sign up experience at our store locations. We also invested in a new platform that automatically enrolls members for automatic renewal. Both new and renewing member rates over doubled membership revenue from the previous year. Donations increased slightly year over year with a rise in unsolicited donations, BHPFA grant funding to support development of our membership program, seed funding for a local group, and create a public awareness campaign around public land archaeological sites.Fee based education programs did not garner a significant amount of funding, but BHPFA was able to partner with like minded organizations and will be able to leverage those relationship and resources for future programming revenue.BHPFA purchased a building in January 2025 and moved all warehouse operations into the building in March. The added expense of building operations significantly contributed to the 31% increase in expenses year over year.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 77% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 82% 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 total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 78
  • Transparency & Controls: 94
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 27
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 67.4%; rating input score 67
  • 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: 100%; rating input score 100; 76th 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: 8 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 100
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • 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: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -29.2%; rating input score 6; 6th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.51; rating input score 56; 56th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.31; rating input score 24; 24th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 8.6%; rating input score 42; 42nd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 16.6% per year; rating input score 100; 78th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 9.6% per year; rating input score 100; 65th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 11.4% per year; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 67.4% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 9 of 9 board members independent · 8 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $835K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $106K · 10 people listed
  • Consistency: 33 of 33 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
  • Filing history: 13 filing years from 2010 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 3 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 2 filed related-organization links
  • 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 6/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 56/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 24/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 42/100.