Cedar Mountain Volunteer Fire Rescu

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
561411051
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Cedar Mountain, NC, USA
Phone
8288857297
Rating
77
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate

Reported finances

Revenue
$591,066
Expenses
$362,409
Assets
$1,355,357
Liabilities
$559,127

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

Leadership & pay

10 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Jimmy Jones (President)
  • Jeff Caughey (Vice president)

People named in this filing

  • Jimmy Jones (President)
  • Jeff Caughey (Vice president)
  • Karen Milford (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. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Fire protection and rescue services to the organization's service district.

What it reported doing in 2024

Provided fire protection and rescue services to the Cedar Mountain NC service district which includes the communities of Cedar Mountain, Caesar's Head, Cliff Ridge Colony, Tutherside and Witherspoon, The Dupont State Forest, Caesar's Head State Park, and YMCA Camp Greenville, all located in Western North Carolina and upper northwestern South Carolina. During this last fiscal year, we had 2 major events in our area that included Hurricane Helene Disaster Response and the Table Rock and Persimmon Ridge Wildfire in which both times include the evacuation of either all or part of our response District. This was a major event for the Fire Department as we had never seen anything like this in our 45 years of service to the community. In both events we spent a lot of volunteer time providing all hazard services to our entire community for weeks at a time.

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

SUPPORTED - A large share of total spending goes to programs and the filed numbers largely add up. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 69
  • Transparency & Controls: 86
  • Accountability: 88
  • Sustainability: 77
  • Growth: 40

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 53.5%; rating input score 54
  • Program expense ratio: 86.8%; rating input score 87
  • Fundraising efficiency: $305.6 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 94; 94th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 92.9%; rating input score 93; 19th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • 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: 5 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 71
    • 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: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 38.7%; rating input score 89; 89th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 3.74; rating input score 80; 80th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.41; rating input score 19; 19th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 81; 81st percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -3.9% per year; rating input score 0; 9th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 4.1% per year; rating input score 100; 38th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -0.8% per year; rating input score 0; 15th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 53.5% of revenue deployed · 86.8% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 9 of 9 board members independent · 5 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $314K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 10 people listed
  • Consistency: 26 of 27 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 15 filing years from 2010 to 2024
  • 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.

  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 54/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 19/100.