Fourth Plain Forward
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 822923189
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2020–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Jun 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2019, Form 990-N 2017
- Location
- Vancouver, WA, United States
- Phone
- (360) 258-0817
- Rating
- 85
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Urban, Community Economic Development
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $2,338,693
- Expenses
- $1,985,611
- Assets
- $778,867
- Liabilities
- $124,482
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
9 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- PAUL BURGESS (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)
Highest reported compensation
- PAUL BURGESS (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $83,619 total reported compensation
- MICHELE CRUSE (FINANCE DIRECTOR): $26,381 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Fourth Plain Forward supports the success of small businesses, promotes the unique identity of the international district, advocates for Fourth Plain residents' interests, and serves as a resource hub for the community. We don’t just point you to resources. Our team provides hands-on training, coaching, funding pathways, and space so business owners can move from idea to operation, and from survival to stability. On this page, you’ll find our core programs for: business training and workshops. Business Support for Vancouver & Clark County Entrepreneurs Free coaching, training, and funding to help you start, grow, and sustain your business. Call us (360) 258-0817.
What it reported doing in 2024
Fourth plain forward continued to provide services to the local community. We continued to improve business success rates by supporting recently formed businesses to assist them in achieving long-term sustainability and have established a revolving laon fund to provide accessible business loans for local entrepreneurs facing systemic barriers to financing; provided educational opportunities by offering clark college students hands-on experience in entrepreneuership through our cdbg-funded small business management program; provided comprehensive support services to the community through networking, mentoring, training, technical assistance, and customized services to local businesses at the new community commons to create a more diverse and resilient economy and launched a new climate adaptation program to coordinate public and county planning processes to ensure the community's inclusion in climate and land-use decisions; began an affordable and supportive housing program to acquire, renovate, and manage affordable housing units, including specialized units for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities, students, and households with lower incomes.
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 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.
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 total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 86
- Transparency & Controls: 85
- Accountability: 86
- Sustainability: 49
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 80%; rating input score 80
- Program expense ratio: 94.1%; rating input score 94
- Fundraising efficiency: $199.75 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 92; 92nd percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 90.9%; rating input score 91; 5th 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; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 6 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 67
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Fail
- CEO compensation review process: Pass
- Other executive compensation review process: Pass
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Missing
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 15.1%; rating input score 71; 71st percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.39; rating input score 13; 13th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.16; rating input score 49; 49th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 5.5%; rating input score 50; 50th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 25.4% per year; rating input score 100; 90th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 36.4% per year; rating input score 100; 96th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 34.6% per year; rating input score 100; 95th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 1 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
- Where the money goes: 80% of revenue deployed · 94.1% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 9 of 9 board members independent · 6 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $1.9M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $84K · 9 people listed
- Consistency: 29 of 30 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 4 filing years from 2020 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
- 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.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 8 not reported.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 13/100.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 49/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 50/100.