Lake Fork Stables
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 843427503
- IRS 990-EZ coverage
- 2021–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990-EZ 2025, Form 990-N 2020
- Location
- Yantis, TX, USA
- Phone
- 9033663052
- Rating confidence
- Limited
- Sector
- Youth Development - Agricultural
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $145,542
- Expenses
- $143,649
- Assets
- $0
Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
6 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Valerie Mellema (Executive Director)
People named in this filing
- Valerie Mellema (Executive Director)
- Marea Breedlove (Board Member)
- Merissa Strahin (Assistant Instructor)
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
To provide free and discounted riding lessons, equine-assisted therapy to low-income, autistic, and military families in East Texas, while also providing Thoroughbred aftercare for retired racehorses.
What it reported doing in 2025
Thoroughbred Aftercare - Became accredited by the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance. Provided sanctuary, rehab, and retraining to 14 retired racehorses in 2025.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 87% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- 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
- The available evidence is not sufficient to produce an overall rating for this filing. This is not a warning sign.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: NotEnoughData
- Transparency & Controls: 100
- Sustainability: 19
- Growth: 40
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: Limited
- Program expense ratio: Limited
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 1.3%; rating input score 35; 35th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0; rating input score 1; 1st percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: Limited
- Officer compensation ratio: 22.5%; rating input score 16; 16th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: -2.3% per year; rating input score 0; 24th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 17.8% per year; rating input score 100; 79th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: -0.6% per year; rating input score 0; 24th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: Financial trends and filed revenue, expense, asset, and liability detail
- Governance: Filed governance answers
- Accomplishments: 3 filed program accomplishments · $144K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 6 people listed
- Consistency: 4 of 5 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 4 filed schedules
- Filing history: 5 filing years from 2021 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 3 filed money-flow records
- 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 — Transparency & Controls: Part I part ii net assets crosscheck did not reconcile in the filed values.
- High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 35/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 1/100.
- High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 16/100.