Fire Adapted Colorado

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
475539221
IRS 990 coverage
2021–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2022, Form 990-N 2016
Location
Dolores, CO, USA
Phone
9707397899
Rating
76
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Fire Prevention

Reported finances

Revenue
$455,853
Expenses
$358,036
Assets
$291,584
Liabilities
$7,434

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

Leadership & pay

10 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Rebecca Samulski (Executive Director)

Highest reported compensation

  • Rebecca Samulski (Executive Director): $69,769 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Mission - Connect and empower wildfire resilience leaders to improve wildfire outcomes in Colorado communities and landscapes. Programs include serving as a statewide network for wildfire resilience professionals, raising their collective voices to enable their work, and training including convening the Colorado Wildland Fire Conference.

What it reported doing in 2025

Connect and empower wildfire resilience leaders to improve wildfire outcomes in Colorado communities and landscapes. Programs include serving as a statewide network for wildfire resilience professionals, raising their collective voices to enable their work, and training including convening the Colorado Wildland Fire Conference.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 67% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 96% 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 - The filed numbers largely add up and a large share of available resources goes toward mission work. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 63
  • Transparency & Controls: 94
  • Accountability: 74
  • Sustainability: 51
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 60.8%; rating input score 61
  • Program expense ratio: 77.1%; rating input score 77
  • Fundraising efficiency: $7.22 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 29; 29th percentile among comparable filings

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: 3 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 38
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: Fail
    • 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: 21.5%; rating input score 73; 73rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.81; rating input score 36; 36th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.03; rating input score 32; 32nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 19.5%; rating input score 19; 19th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 18.6% per year; rating input score 100; 81st percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 24.8% per year; rating input score 100; 90th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 18.3% per year; rating input score 100; 80th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 60.8% of revenue deployed · 77.1% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 9 of 9 board members independent · 3 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $276K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $70K · 10 people listed
  • Consistency: 27 of 27 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
  • Filing history: 4 filing years from 2021 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 3 filed money-flow records
  • 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.
  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 29/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 36/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 19/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 32/100.