Friends of Bonita Estero Rail Trail Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 921309052
- IRS 990-EZ coverage
- 2025–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990-EZ 2025, Form 990-N 2024
- Location
- Bonita Springs, FL, USA
- Phone
- 6128593729
- Rating
- 75
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Community, Neighborhood Development
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $127,884
- Expenses
- $63,771
- Assets
- $132,128
Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
3 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Deb Orton (President)
People named in this filing
- Deb Orton (President)
- Stephen Gunther (Treasurer)
- Beth Castro (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-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Friends of BERT exists for the betterment of the greater Lee County community and State of Florida by its mission and activities to support, promote, enhance and protect Bonita Estero Rail Trail in Lee County and its trail connectors now and for future generations and for all other lawful purposes.
What it reported doing in 2025
Trek Ride for BERT is the organizations signature annual community fundraising and awareness event. The 2025 event was held on November 16, 2025 at Coconut Point Mall in Estero, Florida, offering 15-mile and 30-mile routes. The event drew 449 participants, generating substantial community awareness of the Bonita Estero Rail Trail project and providing direct fundraising support for capital phases of the rail trail. The event generated $23,103.59 in voluntary participant donations (reported as contributions on Form 990-EZ Line 1) and $7,312.65 in required registration fees (reported as event income on Line 6b).
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 99% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- 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
SUPPORTED - The filed numbers largely add up and a large share of total spending goes to programs. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 62
- Transparency & Controls: 100
- Sustainability: 74
- Growth: NotEnoughData
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 44.8%; rating input score 45
- Program expense ratio: 89.8%; rating input score 90
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 50.1%; rating input score 92; 92nd percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.07; rating input score 80; 80th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: Limited
- Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 63; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: Limited
- Revenue growth: Limited
- Asset growth: Limited
Details
- Where the money goes: 44.8% of revenue deployed · 89.8% of spending went to programs
- Governance: Filed governance answers
- Accomplishments: 4 filed program accomplishments · $57K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 3 people listed
- Consistency: 8 of 8 current checks pass
- Schedules: 4 filed schedules
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: Resolved incoming and outgoing counterparties from filed money flows.
- 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.
- Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 45/100.