Friends of the Gallatin National Forest

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
363944120
IRS 990 coverage
2017–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2016
Location
Bozeman, MT, USA
Phone
2079753752
Rating
78
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Job Training

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$355,755
Expenses
$228,581
Assets
$1,172,307
Liabilities
$1,413

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

5 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • ANGIE WEIKERT (PRESIDENT)
  • BECKY SWITZER (VICE PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • ALLYSON FAUVER (DIRECTOR): $15,235 total reported compensation
  • ZACH BAILEY (SECRETARY): $3,173 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

To support and contribute to the educational, environmental, and scientific activities provided for the public by the gallatin national forest avalanche center, including avalanche education for the public.

What it reported doing in 2024

Direct support of the gallatin national forest avalanche center in their mission to inform the recreating public about avalanche danger: the friends of gnfac hosts the mtavalanche.com website, owns and maintains 5 weather stations, and provides other direct support to the avalanche center by covering costs for snowmobiles, gear, and website maintenance. In the 2024-2025 season, the avalanche center's daily avalanche advisories reached 5k+ people a day; gnfac videos received over 5.2m views on instagram, facebook, and youtube; and social media followers reached 58k.

Operating model

Revenue model
Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
Distribution model
Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 70% for direct work, and 30% for grants.

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 reported officer compensation is a large share of total spending, which may reflect staffing concentration.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 73
  • Transparency & Controls: 94
  • Accountability: 61
  • Sustainability: 74
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 65%; rating input score 65
  • Program expense ratio: 87.9%; rating input score 88
  • Fundraising efficiency: $29.6 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 67; 67th 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; 80th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 60%; rating input score 60; 17th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 5 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 62
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 35.7%; rating input score 86; 86th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 5.13; rating input score 80; 80th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 56; 56th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 8.1%; rating input score 30; 30th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 7.5% per year; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 9.2% per year; rating input score 100; 70th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 9.8% per year; rating input score 100; 65th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 65% of revenue deployed · 87.9% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 3 of 5 board members independent · 5 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $201K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $15K · 5 people listed
  • Consistency: 23 of 23 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
  • Filing history: 8 filing years from 2017 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 6 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.

  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 7 not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 30/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 56/100.