Chile Pepper Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
202369236
IRS 990 coverage
2015–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2020
Location
Fayetteville, AR, USA
Phone
4795955499
Rating
84
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Fund Raising and Fund Distribution

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$261,484
Expenses
$254,623
Assets
$199,768
Liabilities
$0

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

12 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • MATTHEW DOWNS (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)
  • THOMAS DOUGHERTY (VICE PRESIDENT)
  • TIFFANY HOOVER (PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • MATTHEW DOWNS (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $26,000 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Promote, assist and support high school track, field, and cross country teams and programs in benton and Washington counties, Arkansas.

What it reported doing in 2025

The chile pepper festival generated enough revenues to donated to high school cross country programs in northwest Arkansas. The amount given to each school varied based on school size and number of volunteers provided by each school.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 83% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
Distribution model
Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 68% for direct work, and 32% for grants.

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 some filed totals do not add up.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 87
  • Transparency & Controls: 91
  • Accountability: 74
  • Sustainability: 42
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 96.9%; rating input score 97
  • Program expense ratio: 99.4%; rating input score 99
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 88.9%; rating input score 89; 6th 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; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 3 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 38
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • 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: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 2.6%; rating input score 42; 42nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.78; rating input score 35; 35th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 77; 77th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 10.2%; rating input score 27; 27th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 3% per year; rating input score 100; 41st percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 4.2% per year; rating input score 100; 43rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 3.9% per year; rating input score 100; 39th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 96.9% of revenue deployed · 99.4% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 11 of 11 board members independent · 3 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $253K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $26K · 12 people listed
  • Consistency: 15 of 16 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 8 filing years from 2015 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • 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.

  • Moderate — Accountability: Governance controls: 4 of 7 not reported.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 42/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 35/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 27/100.