River Deep Foundation

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
814540959
IRS 990 coverage
2017–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Lakewood, CO, USA
Phone
3038810400
Rating
75
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Single Organization Support

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$109,883
Expenses
$124,273
Assets
$490,701
Liabilities
$6,531

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

Leadership & pay

10 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • CHRIS DUNDAS (PRESIDENT/TR)

Highest reported compensation

  • BOB ADWAR (EXECUTIVE DI): $39,963 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Provides healing & support to military veterans, active duty and individuals with disabilities.

What it reported doing in 2025

River deep foundation supports multiple programs focused on outdoor group activities such as fly fishing and hunting, while others focus on learning a new skill such as blacksmithing, archery, art, and scuba to name a few. As a whole, river deep foundation encourages the participation and support of family/caretakers. River deep foundation formed an alliance with other complimentary, stand alone non-profits to be able to offer their clients additional programs that focus on specific needs for daily life, such as providing service dogs, yoga, and chiropractic care. As of the end of this fiscal year there are 11 members of the river deep alliance. Through this alliance these members have been able to serve more clients and strengthen their organizations by sharing ideas and networking.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 85% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 98% 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. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 77
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 74
  • Sustainability: 35
  • Growth: 0

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 88.3%; rating input score 88
  • Program expense ratio: 75.4%; rating input score 75
  • Fundraising efficiency: $6.57 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 27; 27th 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: Pass
    • 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: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -13.1%; rating input score 16; 16th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 3.95; rating input score 75; 75th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.01; rating input score 37; 37th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 32.2%; rating input score 10; 10th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -21.4% per year; rating input score 0; 6th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -27.9% per year; rating input score 0; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -3.3% per year; rating input score 0; 12th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 88.3% of revenue deployed · 75.4% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 9 of 9 board members independent · 3 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $94K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $40K · 10 people listed
  • Consistency: 26 of 26 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 9 filing years from 2017 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • 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: 4 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 27/100.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 16/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 10/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 37/100.