Rapid Valley Volunteer Fire Dept

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
466019441
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Rapid City, SD, USA
Phone
6053930848
Rating
77
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate

Reported finances

Revenue
$388,834
Expenses
$258,317
Assets
$1,914,815
Liabilities
$0

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

Leadership & pay

7 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • JOE TJADEN (PRESIDENT)
  • BRENT WOODARD (VICE PRESIDENT)

People named in this filing

  • JOE TJADEN (PRESIDENT)
  • BRENT WOODARD (VICE PRESIDENT)
  • NICKI WOODARD (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. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

To provide emergency medical and fire services to the rapid valley community and surrounding areas

What it reported doing in 2025

Fire suppression, prevention, training & emergency medical response for the protection of the rapid valley community and the surrounding black hills area.

Operating model

Revenue model
Grant-funded. 66% of the money available for current operations came from government grants.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 91% 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 program spending has declined or grown slowly.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 70
  • Transparency & Controls: 93
  • Accountability: 70
  • Sustainability: 81
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 68.7%; rating input score 69
  • Program expense ratio: 94.1%; rating input score 94
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 81st percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 2 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 29
    • 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: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 33.6%; rating input score 83; 83rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 7.41; rating input score 86; 86th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 77; 77th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 67; 67th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -5% per year; rating input score 0; 16th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 0.3% per year; rating input score 100; 21st percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 3.5% per year; rating input score 100; 37th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 68.7% of revenue deployed · 94.1% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 40 of 40 board members independent · 2 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $243K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 7 people listed
  • Consistency: 25 of 25 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes grants
  • Filing history: 15 filing years from 2010 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.

Grant-readiness screening is separate from the live rating, not a measure of program quality. Review the source records before making a grant decision.

  • High — Accountability: Governance controls: 4 of 6 not reported.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Grant Readiness: Federal audit findings: this organization reported findings in its latest federal Single Audit.