Maryland Forestry Boards Foundation Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
521694086
IRS 990 coverage
2020–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Annapolis, MD, USA
Phone
4106107719
Rating
73
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Natural Resources Conservation and Protection

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$2,122,038
Expenses
$2,046,857
Assets
$194,411
Liabilities
$0

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

Leadership & pay

12 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Gary G Allen (President)
  • Sandra Sparks (Vice President Communications)

Highest reported compensation

  • Gary G Allen (President): $43,466 total reported compensation
  • Dawn Balinski (Treasurer): $26,087 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

The Maryland Forestry Foundation's mission is to act as the fiduciary agent and fundraising manager for specific programs of the 24 Forestry Boards in Maryland. In our role of support for the local boards, we provide important tax deductibility to corporate and private donors interested in the stewardship, conservation & sustainable use of MD's forest resources. We have grown our mission in recent years to include the promotion and management of several large forestry programs funded by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources.

What it reported doing in 2025

$142,335 in Other Exps: $33,841 in expenses associated with the Natural Resources Careers Camp (NRCC - incl travel, promotion, etc), $44,863 for 4 college students in our Fellowship program, $16,170 in new employee costs, $1,702 of mileage reimbursement to the Big Tree program volunteers, $3,294 maint of new website, $5,000 distribution of donations to Forestry Boards, $10,217 for creation of Governing Green booklet, $20,341 for promotion of programs, $1,000 college scholarship distribution, $5,000 sponsorship of Junior Achievement Center, $907 all other prgm support. $294,237 in Other Revenue: $50,000 grant rec'd for Fellowship program, $36,520 donations and tuition payments for NRCC, $160,990 grant rec'd for one year salaries/benefits for 2 new employees brought on in Oct, $27,500 DNR grant rec'd for Forestry Board support, $13,000 donation rec'd for Governing Green booklet, $200 Big Tree contributions, $5,000 contributions to Forestry Boards, $125 donations made to the Foundation, $902 interest income.

Operating model

Revenue model
Grant-funded. 97% of the money available for current operations came from government grants.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 94% 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. The filing does not identify recipients for some grant dollars and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 84
  • Transparency & Controls: 67
  • Accountability: 63
  • Sustainability: 38
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 92.8%; rating input score 93
  • Program expense ratio: 96.2%; rating input score 96
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 81.8%; rating input score 82; 0th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 33.6%; rating input score 34; 18th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 84.6%; rating input score 85; 18th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 3 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 33
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: Fail
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 3.5%; rating input score 38; 38th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.09; rating input score 3; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 96; 96th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 3.4%; rating input score 67; 67th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 19% per year; rating input score 100; 82nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 20.2% per year; rating input score 100; 87th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 24.5% per year; rating input score 100; 89th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 92.8% of revenue deployed · 96.2% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 11 of 13 board members independent · 3 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $2M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $43K · 12 people listed
  • Highest-paid contractors: 2 contractors listed · $1.3M reported
  • Consistency: 40 of 42 current checks pass · 2 findings to review
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
  • Filing history: 6 filing years from 2020 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 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: Grant itemization coverage scored 34/100.
  • Moderate — Accountability: Governance controls: 5 of 8 not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 38/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 3/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.