Port Gamble S'klallam Foundation

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
911145489
IRS 990 coverage
2019–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Kingston, WA, USA
Phone
3602979623
Rating
64
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Historical Societies, Related Historical Activities

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$2,896,158
Expenses
$2,287,068
Assets
$2,749,987
Liabilities
$724,421

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

Leadership & pay

13 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • CHRIS TOM (VICE PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • GREG TRUEB (CFO): $235,445 total reported compensation
  • AMBER CALDERA (TRUSTEE): $149,798 total reported compensation
  • RENEE VEREGGE (SECRETARY/TREASURER): $148,433 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Port gamble s'klallam foundation is dedicated to improving the quality of life for port gamble s'klallam tribal members while increasing the understanding of the tribe's rich cultural heritage with people who reside in the puget sound area and visitors from far and wide.

What it reported doing in 2025

Heronswood garden: the foundation supports the maintenance and enhancement of heronswood garden, a 15-acre botanical garden that collects, propagates, preserves and showcases plant species from around the world as well as indigenous pacific northwest plants and endangered taxa of the olympic peninsula. Heronswood collaborates with academic organizations and public gardens and provides a wide variety of educational and environmental experiences for community, visitors, and tribal and garden members while also striving to enhance the public's awareness of the role and culture of the port gamble s'klallam tribe. Heronswood's display gardens have been featured internationally as an example of creative, environmentally sensitive, and botanically impressive plantsmanship and garden design. Garden development is guided by the vision and guidance of an independent steering committee, a strategic plan for multiyear development and growth, a skilled, trained, and experienced management staff, and a group of dedicated community volunteers. In 2025, the foundation received generous support for heronswood from a wide variety of donors, including the port gamble s'klallam tribe, private foundations, civic organizations, garden members and individuals to address: (1) infrastructure needs, including equipment to support expanded and new garden displays/installations and programming (classes, tours, public events) and (2) improving ada accessibility in the garden, particularly for people with mobility issues and/or requiring mobility assistance devices.in 2025, the foundation continued its conservative approach for fiscal management and expenditures, focusing on critical infrastructure repair and supports for heronswood garden while strategically investing in programs and services that also increased capacity for expanded programming and future revenue generation. Grants from public and private sources were secured for projects anticipated to (1) expand cultural arts programming for the port gamble s'klallam tribe, (2) grow capacity for facility use and public events, and (3) improve and iincrease public access to the garden and its program services. In 2025, accessibility continued to be a priority for investment, including continued physical improvements supporting mobility and interpretive signage, including development of audio-options for the visually impaired.

Operating model

Revenue model
Affiliate-supported. 73% of the money available for current operations came from contributions from related organizations.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 87% 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.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. A relatively small share of voting board members are independent and few specific pay-setting methods are documented in the filing; unanswered boxes are not proof of absence.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 65
  • Transparency & Controls: 71
  • Accountability: 45
  • Sustainability: 58
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 67.1%; rating input score 67
  • Program expense ratio: 83.6%; rating input score 84
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 0 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 0
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Missing
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 75th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 30%; rating input score 30; 9th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 6 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 67
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Fail
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 21%; rating input score 74; 74th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.2; rating input score 40; 40th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.26; rating input score 30; 30th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 4.1%; rating input score 63; 63rd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 11.3% per year; rating input score 100; 65th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 15.6% per year; rating input score 100; 81st percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 24.9% per year; rating input score 100; 89th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 67.1% of revenue deployed · 83.6% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 3 of 10 board members independent · 6 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $1.9M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $235K · 13 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 28 of 28 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 6 filing years from 2019 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 7 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 8 filed related-organization links
  • 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 — Accountability: Independent voting board scored 30/100.
  • High — Transparency & Controls: Pay-setting controls scored 0/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 9 not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 40/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 30/100.