Colorado Riverfront Foundation Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
841069605
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Grand Junction, CO, USA
Phone
9706834333
Rating
85
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate

Reported finances

Revenue
$260,996
Expenses
$274,058
Assets
$1,126,738
Liabilities
$4,214

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

Leadership & pay

9 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Dr William Findlay (Vice President)

People named in this filing

  • John Gormley (Presient)
  • Dr William Findlay (Vice President)
  • Mark Gardner (Secretary Treasurer)

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 Foundations primary exempt purpose is to reclaim the Colorado Riverfront corridor between Palisade, Grand Junction and Fruita, Colorado.

What it reported doing in 2025

Colorado Riverfront Concert Series - The purpose of this concert series is to bring the community to the riverfront venue and educate them on our ongoing reclamation of the river corridor, including wildlife habitat, tamarisk and noxious weed removal, recreational opporunities on our completed trails, newly completed trail connections and proposed trail connections. During our 25 years of the Colorado Riverfront Concerty Series, we have seen our attendance numbers increase from just a few hundred attendees to approximately 1,600 attendees for each of our two concerts during the year.

Operating model

Revenue model
Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
Distribution model
Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 70% for direct work, and 30% 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 fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 91
  • Transparency & Controls: 89
  • Accountability: 82
  • Sustainability: 47
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 90.2%; rating input score 90
  • Fundraising efficiency: $17.58 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 52; 52nd percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 91.7%; rating input score 92; 20th 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: Fail
    • 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: -5%; rating input score 25; 25th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 4.11; rating input score 76; 76th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 45; 45th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 67; 67th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 0% per year; rating input score 100; 28th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -0.8% per year; rating input score 0; 17th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 3.9% per year; rating input score 100; 39th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 90.2% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 9 of 9 board members independent · 4 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $247K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 9 people listed
  • Consistency: 24 of 25 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
  • Filing history: 15 filing years from 2010 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 3 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 3 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.

Key Signals

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

  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 6 not reported.
  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 52/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 25/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 45/100.