Gales Ferry Fire Co Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
061620712
IRS 990 coverage
2020–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2016
Location
Gales Ferry, CT, USA
Phone
8604647228
Rating
71
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$408,702
Expenses
$125,686
Assets
$821,975
Liabilities
$0

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

Leadership & pay

7 people listed

People named in this filing

  • Theodore Day (Foreman)
  • Jeffrey Erhart (Fire Chief/Executive Committee)
  • Frank Cometa (Treasurer/ Executive Committee)

Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.

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

Overview

Mission

Respond to all fire and emergency alarms in Gales Ferry, CT and in emergency and otherwise with emergency service agencies in adjacent communities.

What it reported doing in 2025

Respond to all fire and emergency alarms in Gales Ferry, CT and in emergency and otherwise with emergency service agencies in adjacent communities

Operating model

Revenue model
Grant-funded. 86% of the money available for current operations came from government grants.
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 most voting board members are independent. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 59
  • Transparency & Controls: 83
  • Accountability: 64
  • Sustainability: 87
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 30.6%; rating input score 31
  • Program expense ratio: 97.3%; rating input score 97
  • Fundraising efficiency: $114.56 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 85; 85th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 92.3%; rating input score 92; 24th 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: 1 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 14
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 69.2%; rating input score 96; 96th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 6.54; rating input score 84; 84th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 77; 77th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 67; 67th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 12.3% per year; rating input score 100; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 5.9% per year; rating input score 100; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 3.1% per year; rating input score 100; 36th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 30.6% of revenue deployed · 97.3% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 31 of 31 board members independent · 1 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $122K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 7 people listed
  • Consistency: 43 of 44 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 6 filing years from 2020 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • 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 31/100.
  • High — Accountability: Governance controls: 5 of 6 not reported.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.