Lakes & Straits Volunteer Fire Company Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
521241548
IRS 990 coverage
2020–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2019
Location
Wingate, MD, USA
Phone
4103978154
Rating
75
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Fire Prevention

Reported finances

Revenue
$163,339
Expenses
$123,060
Assets
$283,608
Liabilities
$0

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

Leadership & pay

7 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • SUE THOMAS (PRESIDENT)

People named in this filing

  • RICHARD DAWSON (TRUSTEE)
  • CHRIS ROBINSON (TRUSTEE)
  • MICHAEL TALL (TRUSTEE)

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

To protect and safegaurd the lives and property of all persons in the lakes & strait's election districts, of dorchester county, Maryland or elsewhere in the county, from the damages and ravages of fire; to promote social intercourse amoung members.

What it reported doing in 2025

7 fire calls ,37 ambulance calls, 3 miscellaneous calls

Operating model

Revenue model
Grant-funded. 84% 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 - 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: 75
  • Transparency & Controls: 80
  • Accountability: 64
  • Sustainability: 71
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 75.3%; rating input score 75
  • Program expense ratio: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 88.9%; rating input score 89; 6th 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: 1 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 14
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 24.7%; rating input score 76; 76th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.3; rating input score 63; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 77; 77th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 67; 67th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 9.3% per year; rating input score 100; 65th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 4.7% per year; rating input score 100; 46th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 0.7% per year; rating input score 100; 25th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 75.3% of revenue deployed · 100% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 46 of 6 board members independent · 1 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $123K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 7 people listed
  • Consistency: 11 of 12 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 2 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 6 filing years from 2020 to 2025
  • 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 — Accountability: Governance controls: 5 of 6 not reported.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Independent members within voting members did not reconcile in the filed values.