Ramapo Catskill Library System

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
141457346
IRS 990 coverage
2017–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Middletown, NY, USA
Phone
8452433747
Rating
75
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$5,557,892
Expenses
$5,263,396
Assets
$7,991,771
Liabilities
$140,288

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

Leadership & pay

13 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • DIANE ARCIERI (PRESIDENT)
  • ELEANOR KASSNER (VICE-PRESIDENT)
  • GRACE RIARIO (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)

Highest reported compensation

  • GRACE RIARIO (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $162,475 total reported compensation
  • STEPHEN HOEFER (CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER): $138,696 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Rcls, working cooperatively with its member libraries, provides coordinated services, guidance, training, support and leadership to member library trustees and staff to sustain their efforts to be responsive, proactive, vital community institutions that meet the changing needs of their users in orange, rockland, sullivan and southern ulster counties. Rcls, working in cooperation with member libraries, will help raise awareness about library services and work to eliminate barriers to library access and use.

What it reported doing in 2025

Rcls provides library services to 46 member libraries in our chartered area in accordance with the plan of service 2022-2026 approved by the division of library development, nys education department. Rcls has two main sources of revenue: nys aid to library systems and fees from member libraries for goods and services. Services include:1) online automated network services that manages circulation, borrower registration, an on-line catalog, interlibrary loans between member libraries, mid-hudson library system (mhls) and southeastern ny library resources council (senlrc), a fiber optic wide-area network linking all member libraries, statistical reporting of collection use and other relevant data and cataloging services. Anser is operated on a cost recovery basis. Rcls also maintains a capital fund for anser to sustain hardware and software upgrades for a ten-year period.2) a delivery system moves library materials daily between member libraries and rcls with a drop off for mhls and senlrc using a fleet of six vans.3) consulting services for youth, young adult, adult and outreach programs including six nys correctional facilities, three county jails and one federal correctional facility are provided by rcls professional staff. Continuing education programs for member library staff and trustees are provided. Workshops and one-on-one assistance are provided for nys public library construction grant applications as well as required annual reporting by libraries to the division of library development. Rcls also distributes promotional material for library activities and advocacy to promote library services.integrated library system-their bibliographic database had 2,607,837 titles at decemeber 31,2025.delivery system-makes 204 stops per week. In 2025, 59,306 boxes were moved containing 2,668,781 items.

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: 72
  • Transparency & Controls: 71
  • Accountability: 86
  • Sustainability: 50
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 80.4%; rating input score 80
  • Program expense ratio: 83.7%; rating input score 84
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 2 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 33
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Pass
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • 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; 63rd 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: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Fail
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 5.3%; rating input score 44; 44th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.52; rating input score 48; 48th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.02; rating input score 73; 73rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 5.7%; rating input score 52; 52nd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 1.3% per year; rating input score 100; 16th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 1.7% per year; rating input score 100; 15th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 4.4% per year; rating input score 100; 29th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 80.4% of revenue deployed · 83.7% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 10 of 10 board members independent · 6 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $4.4M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $162K · 13 people listed · 2 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 22 of 22 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes executive pay
  • Filing history: 8 filing years from 2017 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.

  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 9 not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 44/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 48/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 52/100.