National Association of 'S' Gaugers C/o Roger Gerhart

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
521100344
IRS 990 coverage
2009–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-T 2022
Location
Telford, PA, USA
Phone
2152804181
Rating
78
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Public Safety, Disaster Preparedness & Relief N.E.C.

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$60,129
Expenses
$87,842
Assets
$90,627
Liabilities
$6,510

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

Leadership & pay

7 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • JAMES WHIPPLE (PRESIDENT)

People named in this filing

  • JAMES WHIPPLE (PRESIDENT)
  • ANDREW MALETTE (SECRETARY)
  • ROGER GERHART (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

National model train club, promoting and advertising 3/16" model trains

Operating model

Revenue model
Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
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 expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 87
  • Transparency & Controls: 82
  • Accountability: 64
  • Sustainability: 29
  • Growth: 80

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 94%; rating input score 94
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 90.9%; rating input score 91; 19th 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: -46.1%; rating input score 26; 26th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.03; rating input score 28; 28th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.07; rating input score 15; 15th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 58; 58th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 19.4% per year; rating input score 100; 83rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 2.5% per year; rating input score 100; 66th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -0.7% per year; rating input score 0; 33rd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 94% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 17 of 7 board members independent · 1 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $83K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 7 people listed
  • Consistency: 17 of 18 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 16 filing years from 2009 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.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 26/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Independent members within voting members did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 28/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 15/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 58/100.