Red Oaks Center for Nature and the Arts Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
822119872
IRS 990 coverage
2024–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2023, Form 990-N 2020
Location
Lancaster, KY, USA
Phone
8594954112
Rating
82
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Recreational l Clubs

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$291,234
Expenses
$254,861
Assets
$47,892
Liabilities
$24,329

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

Leadership & pay

7 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Amy Meyer (President)
  • Lindsey Krimm (Vice President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Tina Brouwer (Exec Director): $47,678 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Forest School is an idea that originated in Europe and a popular model for early childhood education that is catching on in the United States and around the world. Children thrive in this outdoor setting, in all weather types, constantly challenging their balance, fears, comfort levels, risk assessment, critical thinking skills, social-emotional skills and physical and mental abilities. Through play, kids are able to release stress from a busy world and schedule, engage their senses, make deep and lasting connections to the natural world, as well as gain great interpersonal skills with other kids of all ages. Red Oaks Forest School benefits the community by providing space for families to connect with nature and learn through exploration and education. Continued on Schedule O...

What it reported doing in 2025

Red Oaks Forest School connected thousands of people to nature and each other in 2025. We offer 8 Forest School programs in some combination in 4 service locations across Central and Eastern Kentucky for a total of 14 programs serving 200 students. We also have programs like camping, climbing, hiking, art club, birding club, and nature-wellness days offered on weekends to help people connect to nature on a regular basis. Our programs range from helping students understand nature through a scientific lens, to learning about history, art, music, language and bush-craft too. We work with over 40 community partners across Central and Eastern Kentucky to share resources, maximize our impact, and ensure that anyone who desires to connect to nature can do so with Red Oaks. Our programs work with infants all the way to adults. We have been very successful and bringing volunteers and community partners together to build a deep sense of community through shared experiences in nature. We provided 1,950 hours of outdoor programming and were supported by 50 volunteers providing 1650 hours of service.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 62% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 99% 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. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 81
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 74
  • Sustainability: 35
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 79.3%; rating input score 79
  • Program expense ratio: 90.5%; rating input score 91
  • Fundraising efficiency: $24.01 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 60; 60th percentile among comparable filings

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: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 3 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 38
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 12.5%; rating input score 61; 61st percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.19; rating input score 11; 11th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.51; rating input score 8; 8th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 18.7%; rating input score 19; 19th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 32.1% per year; rating input score 100; 90th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 33% per year; rating input score 100; 94th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 4.2% per year; rating input score 100; 40th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 79.3% of revenue deployed · 90.5% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 7 of 7 board members independent · 3 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $231K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $48K · 7 people listed
  • Consistency: 42 of 42 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 2 filing years from 2024 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
  • 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: Governance controls: 5 of 8 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 11/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 8/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 19/100.