Blueforge Alliance

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
920431093
IRS 990 coverage
2022–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-N 2021
Location
Bryan, TX, USA
Phone
8326604489
Rating
77
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Engineering and Technology

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$731,167,389
Expenses
$697,572,883
Assets
$149,990,875
Liabilities
$84,971,783

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

Leadership & pay

14 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • RANDALL GORHAM (CEO/PRESIDENT)
  • KILEY WREN (CO-CEO (THRU 09/2025))

Highest reported compensation

  • KILEY WREN (CO-CEO (THRU 09/2025)): $559,733 total reported compensation
  • RANDALL GORHAM (CEO/PRESIDENT): $559,312 total reported compensation
  • JENNIFER MINDOCK (PRINCIPAL, SYSTEMS ARCHITECTURE & STRATEGY): $451,085 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Blueforge alliance's (bfa) mission is to enable the maritime manufacturing industry to build and maintain the next generation of resilient undersea platforms for america and its allies by increasing capability, capacity, and resilience.

What it reported doing in 2024

In fiscal year 2025, bfa supported one program under two contracts with the u.s. Department of defense (dod) navy to advance the program goals of galvanizing and revitalizing the u.s. Maritime industrial base (mib). To lessen the burden of government, bfa executes and integrates scientific and educational activities through facilitating collaborations among government agencies, academia, industry, and the general public for the purpose of contributing to operational and cost efficiencies towards achieving national security priorities. (see schedule o)bfa serves this critically important charitable cause by being a conduit to the u.s. Navy and broader dod for convening direct expertise in supplier development, strategic outsourcing, workforce development and outreach, technology advancement, and contracting with specialized consultants, governmental agencies, educational institutions, and navy suppliers. Over 96% of bfa's expenses for the year ended september 30, 2025 were program related.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 100% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program 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

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. A relatively small share of voting board members are independent and total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 83
  • Transparency & Controls: 87
  • Accountability: 53
  • Sustainability: 41
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 91.7%; rating input score 92
  • Program expense ratio: 96.2%; rating input score 96
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 68th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Pass
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 77th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Yes; rating input score 100

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 20%; rating input score 20; 9th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 9 of 9 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: Pass
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 4.6%; rating input score 55; 55th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.22; rating input score 6; 6th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.57; rating input score 31; 31st percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0.6%; rating input score 81; 81st percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 70.1% per year; rating input score 100; 99th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 70.1% per year; rating input score 100; 99th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 55.3% per year; rating input score 100; 99th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 91.7% of revenue deployed · 96.2% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 1 of 5 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $670.9M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $560K · 14 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $173.6M reported
  • Consistency: 36 of 36 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes grants and executive pay
  • Filing history: 3 filing years from 2022 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 23 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 14 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.
  • Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • High — Accountability: Independent voting board scored 20/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 6/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 55/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 31/100.