Coast Ridge Community Forest

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
861349313
IRS 990 coverage
2021–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2022
Location
Cazadero, CA, USA
Phone
7078473944
Rating
82
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Natural Resources Conservation and Protection

Reported finances

Revenue
$460,575
Expenses
$626,813
Assets
$118,068
Liabilities
$5,431

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

Leadership & pay

4 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Christopher Fohner (President)

People named in this filing

  • Christopher Fohner (President)
  • Wanda Swenson (Secretary/Treas)
  • Daniel Schoenfeld (Director)

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

The mission is to bring resources to the coastal hills community to create a healthier and safer forest where all residents flourish.

What it reported doing in 2025

In 2025 CRCF continued work on the Cal Fire grant-funded Fuels Reduction Project: Clearing the Way for Safe Evacuation Phase II. By 2026 this project will remove hazardous roadside fuels up to 100 feet on either side of the road, along 6.4 miles of rural access roads connecting to Fort Ross Road in Cazadero, the main evacuation route for hundreds of residents, in addition to .7 miles of rural access roads on Muniz Ranches, supporting mulitple rural communities in the coastal hills of Sonoma County. The project also funded three community workshops on forest health including: Tree Health, Thinning Your Trees, and Safe Pile Burning. The workshops were attended by 20-30 community members who gained important knowledge and hands on experience in land management and wildfire resliance. The project's expenses for 2023 were $78,616.25, with work focused on project and permit planning and landowner and community outreach. CRCF also completed additional work on the grant-funded Fort Ross Road Fuels Reduction Project: Phase I, this included removing hazardous roadside fuels along the lower portion of Fort Ross Road in Cazadero, not completed in 2022. The project's additonal expenses for 2023 were $952.30. In 2023 CRCF continued a Community Chipper Project, initiated by the grant-funded purchase of a commercial chipper. The Project was additionally funded in 2023 by $1577 in community-donated funds, which covered fuel, oil, maintenance, insurance, operation, and safety equipment purchases.

Operating model

Revenue model
Grant-funded. 96% of the money available for current operations came from government grants.
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.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

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 some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 87
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 73
  • Sustainability: 17
  • Growth: 80

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 94.5%; 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: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 75%; rating input score 75; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 5 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 71
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • 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: -36.1%; rating input score 6; 6th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.19; rating input score 11; 11th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.05; rating input score 28; 28th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 67; 67th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 58.8% per year; rating input score 100; 96th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 6.4% per year; rating input score 100; 55th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -19.3% per year; rating input score 0; 3rd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 94.5% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 3 of 4 board members independent · 5 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $592K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 4 people listed
  • Consistency: 17 of 17 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 4 filing years from 2021 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.

  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 6/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 11/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 28/100.