Charlotte Regional Fire Foundation
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 264054448
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2024–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2023
- Location
- Charlotte, NC, USA
- Phone
- 7045342922
- Rating
- 88
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Public Foundations
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $156,649
- Expenses
- $125,145
- Assets
- $292,534
- Liabilities
- $0
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
3 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Brittany Garcia (Vice-President)
People named in this filing
- David Conrad (PresidentTreasurer)
- Brittany Garcia (Vice-President)
- Jennifer Smetana (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 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
This organization supports the Charlotte Fire Department and community through training, education, recognition, and financial assistance for medical matters.
What it reported doing in 2025
Fire/Safety Training and Education - The support of the Charlotte Fire Department (CFD) and the community it serves through training and education is a major focus. This includes providing resources and training for the CFD Education Division, which reaches over 17,000 third grade students annually with a fire safety program. The Foundation supports the Charlotte Fire Department. The CFD Health and Safety Division supports mental wellness through K-9 programs, staffing 4 therapy dogs and their handlers, to provide assistance to over 1400 employees. Camp Ignite and Camp Hornets Nest are weeklong fire training programs for over 80 high school students with an interest in a fire service career. We also provide fire and life safety materials to over 200,000 event attendees each November.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 75% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The filing allocates 83% 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. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and program spending has declined or grown slowly.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 87
- Transparency & Controls: 100
- Accountability: 82
- Sustainability: 69
- Growth: 60
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
- Program expense ratio: 95.1%; rating input score 95
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: Limited
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 81st 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; 64th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 4 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 57
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- 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: Missing
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 20.1%; rating input score 71; 71st percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.34; rating input score 63; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 77; 77th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 67; 67th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: -40.2% per year; rating input score 0; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 10.8% per year; rating input score 100; 71st percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 13.6% per year; rating input score 100; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 95.1% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 8 of 8 board members independent · 4 of 7 filing controls reported
- Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $119K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 3 people listed
- Consistency: 18 of 18 current checks pass
- Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
- Filing history: 2 filing years from 2024 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: Resolved incoming and outgoing counterparties from filed money flows.
- 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 — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 6 not reported.
- High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.