Gateway Education of the Wild Rivers Coast

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
273728067
IRS 990 coverage
2025–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2024, Form 990-N 2023
Location
Crescent City, CA, USA
Phone
7079547666
Rating
74
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Nonmonetary Support N.E.C.

Reported finances

Revenue
$237,355
Expenses
$211,514
Assets
$117,374
Liabilities
$279

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

Leadership & pay

3 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • BRETT SILVER (Vice President)
  • WILMA MADDEN (President)

Highest reported compensation

  • RON COLE (Director): $69,000 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

To build a thriving ecosystem of youth engagement on the Wild River Coast uniting outdoor education, recreation, arts, and entrepreneurship to inspire lifelong awareness, confidence, and civic contribution.

What it reported doing in 2025

SURVIVAL AND SELF-AWARENESS CAMPS - Participants learn to build shelters, start fires safely, identify edible plants, and navigate challenging natural terrain but the core emphasis remains on inner awareness, communication, and trust. Through guided reflection, cooperative challenges, and nature immersion, students gain critical life skills that support self-regulation and leadership long after the camp ends.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 100% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
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 - 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 some filed totals do not add up.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 83
  • Transparency & Controls: 82
  • Accountability: 58
  • Sustainability: 42
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 89.1%; rating input score 89
  • Program expense ratio: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 90.9%; rating input score 91; 15th 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: 0 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 0
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • 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: Fail
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 10.9%; rating input score 58; 58th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.55; rating input score 27; 27th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 48; 48th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 32.6%; rating input score 9; 9th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: Limited
  • Revenue growth: 13.8% per year; rating input score 100; 78th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 9.6% per year; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 89.1% of revenue deployed · 100% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 3 of 3 board members independent · 0 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $212K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $69K · 3 people listed
  • Consistency: 19 of 20 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • 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: 7 of 7 not reported.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 27/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 58/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 9/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 48/100.