Gardiner Chamber of Commerce

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
810257060
IRS 990 coverage
2016–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-N 2012
Location
Gardiner, MT, USA
Phone
4068487971
Rating
81
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate

Reported finances

Revenue
$340,271
Expenses
$303,665
Assets
$1,469,472
Liabilities
$184,992

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

Leadership & pay

11 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • SARAH ONDRUS (Vice President)
  • MIKE SKELTON (President)

Highest reported compensation

  • MARIA KOPPELBERGER (Interim EX DIRE): $29,758 total reported compensation
  • Terese Petcoff (Executive Dir.): $29,145 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

The Gardiner Chamber of Commerce serves to promote business and tourism in the community.

What it reported doing in 2024

Gardiner, MT is the northeast entrance to Yellowstone National Park. This is the local chamber of commerce. This organization also owned a community center, (which was donated in 2015 to another community nonprofit organization), operates the local rodeo grounds, and in 2015, acquired a building to be used as a local visitor's welcome center. The chamber also initiated and worked with the community in establishing the Gardiner Gateway Project, which in 2015 and 2016, made improvements to the entrance of the park, established a resort tax (some funds of which are used to operate the welcome center, as well as, pay off the associated mortgage loan), and obtained status in Montana as a convention & visitors bureau (which will result in additional funding resources).

Operating model

Revenue model
Grant-funded. 63% 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

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

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 80
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 69
  • Sustainability: 57
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 86.1%; rating input score 86
  • Program expense ratio: 96.1%; rating input score 96
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

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: 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: 2 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 25
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 10.8%; rating input score 61; 61st percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 4.84; rating input score 79; 79th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.13; rating input score 24; 24th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 19.4%; rating input score 20; 20th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 7.7% per year; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 4.4% per year; rating input score 100; 49th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 5.2% per year; rating input score 100; 48th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 86.1% of revenue deployed · 96.1% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 9 of 9 board members independent · 2 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $292K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $30K · 11 people listed
  • Consistency: 26 of 26 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 5 filing years from 2016 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.

  • High — Accountability: Governance controls: 5 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 20/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 24/100.