Foothills Rails-to-Trails Coalition
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 943053040
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2018–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2017
- Location
- Puyallup, WA, USA
- Phone
- 2535495860
- Rating
- 73
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Environmental Beautification and Aesthetics
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $454,558
- Expenses
- $785,531
- Assets
- $580,205
- Liabilities
- $0
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
16 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Theresa Turpin (President)
- Kim Wells (Vice President)
- Breanna Fokes (Executive Director)
Highest reported compensation
- Breanna Fokes (Executive Director): $84,625 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
We work to expand, fund, maintain, promote and advocate for an accessible and inclusive trail system from Mt. Rainier National Park to Puget Sound, fostering recreation, health, active transportation, economic growth, and environmental and historic preservation.
What it reported doing in 2025
In partnership with Pierce County Parks, the Coalition expanded its volunteer stewardship program through monthly work parties held from April through October along the Foothills Trail corridor. In 2025, the program engaged 168 volunteers who contributed approximately 370 hours of service toward invasive species removal, native tree and shrub planting, and trail maintenance. Highlights included Celebrate Trails Day, where more than 60 volunteers helped plant over 200 native trees and shrubs. Together, these efforts improved trail conditions, strengthened habitat restoration, and deepened community investment in the long-term care and preservation of the Foothills Trail.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The filing allocates 99% 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 - 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: 84
- Transparency & Controls: 66
- Accountability: 69
- Sustainability: 23
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
- Program expense ratio: 83.4%; rating input score 83
- Fundraising efficiency: $2.57 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 11; 11th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 72.7%; rating input score 73; 0th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: Limited
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: Limited
- Major donor itemization: Limited
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 2 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 25
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
- 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: -72.8%; rating input score 2; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.74; rating input score 33; 33rd percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 77; 77th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 10.8%; rating input score 26; 26th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 31.3% per year; rating input score 100; 90th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 16.5% per year; rating input score 100; 82nd percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 13.1% per year; rating input score 100; 71st percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 83.4% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 15 of 15 board members independent · 2 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $655K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $85K · 16 people listed
- Consistency: 24 of 25 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 2 filed schedules
- Filing history: 7 filing years from 2018 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
- Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
- 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 — Accountability: Governance controls: 5 of 7 not reported.
- High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 11/100.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 2/100.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 33/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 26/100.