Lagrange County Trails Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
832411224
IRS 990 coverage
2025–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2021, Form 990-N 2024
Location
Howe, IN, USA
Phone
2603502053
Rating
64
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Community, Neighborhood Development

Reported finances

Revenue
$1,421,893
Expenses
$19,979
Assets
$1,439,925
Liabilities
$0

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

Leadership & pay

9 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • JEFFREY WINGSTROM (PRESIDENT)

People named in this filing

  • JEFFREY WINGSTROM (PRESIDENT)
  • SHERRYL RHINESMITH (VICE PRESIDE)
  • BETH SHERMAN (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. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Build a network of hiking and biking trails that connect communities across the county and neighboring counties.

What it reported doing in 2025

Our only other program services were for support expenses for the purchase of land (legal fees for negotiations with the railroad to acquire the land for the hawpatch trail) and miscellaneous operating expenses of the organization.

Operating model

Revenue model
Grant-funded. 100% 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: 34
  • Transparency & Controls: 90
  • Accountability: 76
  • Sustainability: 96
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 1.4%; rating input score 1
  • Program expense ratio: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd 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: 3 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 43
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 98.6%; rating input score 100; 100th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 72.07; rating input score 99; 99th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 88; 88th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 78; 78th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: Limited
  • Revenue growth: 61.5% per year; rating input score 100; 97th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 60.8% per year; rating input score 100; 96th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 1.4% of revenue deployed · 100% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 9 of 9 board members independent · 3 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $20K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 9 people listed
  • Consistency: 16 of 16 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules
  • 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.

  • High — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 1/100.
  • Moderate — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 6 not reported.