Friends of Silver Falls State Park

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
930921093
IRS 990 coverage
2014–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2020
Location
Sublimity, OR, USA
Phone
5038738735
Rating
84
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$665,161
Expenses
$402,649
Assets
$1,261,421
Liabilities
$18,067

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

Leadership & pay

11 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • ANN KITCHEL (BOARD PRESIDENT (BEG. 12/17/25))
  • MIKE NIEMEYER (BOARD PRESIDENT (THRU 12/16/25))
  • CHELSEA SIMS (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)

Highest reported compensation

  • CHELSEA SIMS (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $93,585 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Friends of silver falls mission is to further the educational and interpretive opportunities available to park visitors, to promote, preserve, and enhance the historical, natural, and recreational resources within the park, and to assist with park improvements and educational programs compatible with the nature of silver falls state park.

What it reported doing in 2025

Park interpreter, campground, jr. Ranger, guided hikes, field trips, discovery tables, and seasonal festivals: the park interpreter supports the Oregon park and recreation department's interpretive programs at silver falls. Responsibilities include leading campground and jr. Ranger programs, guided hikes, field trips, discovery tables, and historic tours. Interpretive festivals educate thousands of visitors about the ecology of silver falls, offering free activities such as guided hikes, a native plant sale, plant displays, propagation classes, telescopes, and nature crafts.

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 89% 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. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 81
  • Transparency & Controls: 94
  • Accountability: 76
  • Sustainability: 72
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 74.4%; rating input score 74
  • Fundraising efficiency: $3.43 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 10; 10th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 78th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 85.7%; rating input score 86; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 5 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 62
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • 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: 39.5%; rating input score 87; 87th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 3.13; rating input score 76; 76th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.01; rating input score 57; 57th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 23.2%; rating input score 13; 13th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 15.7% per year; rating input score 100; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 16.8% per year; rating input score 100; 78th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 14.7% per year; rating input score 100; 68th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 74.4% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 6 of 7 board members independent · 5 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 5 filed program accomplishments · $300K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $94K · 11 people listed
  • Consistency: 29 of 29 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
  • Filing history: 11 filing years from 2014 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 1 filed related-organization link
  • 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.
  • Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.

Key Signals

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

  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 10/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 13/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 57/100.