Hickory Nut Gorge Foundation

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
262633589
IRS 990-EZ coverage
2022–2025
Forms available
Form 990-EZ 2025, Form 990-N 2021
Location
Lake Lure, NC, USA
Phone
7045785507
Rating
42
Verdict
MIXED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Philanthropy, Charity, Voluntarism Promotion

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$53,710
Expenses
$45,942
Assets
$0

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

Leadership & pay

2 people listed

People named in this filing

  • Crystal Morrison (Chairperson)
  • John Barton (Treasurer)

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

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

Overview

Mission

Hickory Nut Gorge Foundation supports a permanent Endowment fund for the purpose of enhancing the lifestyle and environment of the Hickory Nut Gorge area of Western North Carolina. Over the years, our focus to impact the Hickory Nut Gorge community remains steadfast. We have granted awards to many organizations in these areas: Area health facilities, Needy economic outreach, Community Center maintenance, Habitat for Humanity, Church fundraisers & scholarships, Volunteer fire departments, Agricultural projects & events, Land conservation programs, Gorge recreational parks, Nonprofit sports festivals, Arts festivals, Charter school programs, Regional library

What it reported doing in 2025

People in Need was composed of Grants made from our Endowment to 501(c)(3) organizations in our service area of $5000, and pass-through immediate Disaster Relief Grants of $18,744 collected and distributed due to Hurricane Helene. The Endowment grants reached the clients of Hickory Nut Gorge Outreach for Christmas food baskets (~100 families), and the Disaster Relief benefited 2000-3000 people living in the Gorge in some way.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 76% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
Distribution model
Cannot be determined from the filing. The filing does not provide enough consistent spending detail to tell whether the nonprofit works directly or through others.

The verdict

MIXED - The filed numbers largely add up. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and a relatively small share of total spending goes to programs.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 0
  • Transparency & Controls: 100
  • Sustainability: 39
  • Growth: 0

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 0%; rating input score 0
  • Program expense ratio: 0%; rating input score 0

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 51st percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 14.5%; rating input score 66; 66th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0; rating input score 3; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: Limited
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 56; 56th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: Limited
  • Revenue growth: -23.1% per year; rating input score 0; 14th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -21.5% per year; rating input score 0; 10th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 0% of revenue deployed · 0% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: Filed governance answers
  • Accomplishments: 3 filed program accomplishments
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 2 people listed
  • Consistency: 5 of 7 current checks pass · 2 findings to review
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 4 filing years from 2022 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: Resolved incoming and outgoing counterparties from filed money flows.
  • 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 — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 0/100.
  • High — Financial Efficiency: Program expense ratio scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Part I part ii net assets crosscheck did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Part III transfer expenses within program total did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 3/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 56/100.