Pole Mountain Lookout Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
384089530
IRS 990-EZ coverage
2021–2025
Forms available
Form 990-EZ 2025, Form 990-N 2022
Location
Cazadero, CA, USA
Phone
7073443311
Rating
92
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Fire Prevention

Reported finances

Revenue
$54,504
Expenses
$70,389
Assets
$20,622

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

Leadership & pay

9 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Marshall Turbeville (President)
  • Damian Boune (Vice President)

People named in this filing

  • Marshall Turbeville (President)
  • Damian Boune (Vice President)
  • Wendy Strand (Secretary)

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

Pole Mountain Lookout has partnered with Sonoma Land Trust to create a permanent home for this icon at their Pole Mountain Preserve. It endures because of a dedicated community and generous donations. The lookout management has reorganized and new leadership has emerged. Updating lookout operations and providing modern technology are key priorities. Restored staffing means there will be backup for equipment failure, spotting puffs of smoke early, and aiding fire crews on the ground.

What it reported doing in 2025

Pole Mountain Lookout has partnered with Sonoma Land Trust to create a permanent home for this icon at their Pole Mountain Preserve. It endures because of a dedicated community and generous donations. The lookout management has reorganized and new leadership has emerged. Updating lookout operations and providing modern technology are key priorities. Restored staffing means there will be backup for equipment failure, spotting puffs of smoke early, and aiding fire crews on the ground.The lookout currently hosts two high-performance 360 PTZ cameras, provided by Alert Wildfire in partnership with PG&E. One camera may be busy monitoring a fire while the other rotating camera continues to provide visibility for its approximate 25-mile operating range. As the technology improves Pole Mountain Lookout will expand automated monitoring capabilities for the best possible coverage.You can view the Pole Mountain Alert Wildfire cameras at http://www.alertwildfire.org/northbay/.The over 50-year-old Pole Mountain Lookout had been located at the peak of Pole Mountain for almost 40 of those years and has been demolished in preparation for the new build. Design and final drawings of the new structure are complete and various other activities continue to pave the way for a modern lookout facility. The new structure will be made primarily of high-quality steel a material that will guarantee low maintenance and long service life.

Operating model

Revenue model
Cannot be determined from the filing. The filing does not provide enough consistent revenue detail to tell how this nonprofit funds its work.
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

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Expenses are high relative to revenue and revenue has declined or grown slowly.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 98
  • Transparency & Controls: 100
  • Sustainability: 22
  • Growth: 40

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 95.4%; rating input score 95

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 51st percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -29.1%; rating input score 18; 18th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.29; rating input score 23; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: Limited
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 56; 56th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 23.9% per year; rating input score 100; 84th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -12.8% per year; rating input score 0; 21st percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -33.3% per year; rating input score 0; 6th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 95.4% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: Filed governance answers
  • Accomplishments: 1 filed program accomplishment · $67K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 9 people listed
  • Consistency: 7 of 7 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 4 filing years from 2021 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: Resolved incoming and outgoing counterparties from filed money flows.
  • 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 — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 18/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 23/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 56/100.