River Keepers

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
450417429
IRS 990 coverage
2013–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Fargo, ND, USA
Phone
7012352895
Rating
82
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Standard
Sector
Alliance/Advocacy Organizations

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$249,256
Expenses
$239,449
Assets
$432,796
Liabilities
$6,989

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

14 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Courtney Neitke (President)
  • Mike Ferrie (Vice President)
  • Jill Wilkey (Past President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Christine Holland (Exec. Dir.): $96,768 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Mission: We are dedicated to connecting our community safely to Red River of the North through education, stewardship, and engagement.

What it reported doing in 2024

We engage the community in opportunities to learn about the Red River, helps sustain it, and safely enjoy it. Our work is broad in scope as it includes many river and watershed related activities. Such as: 1. Engaging the community in guided hikes, paddling excursions, and snowshoe outings. 2. Providing educational activities at community events, 3. Providing canoe and kayak rentals, 4. Coordinating events such as the Red River Water Festival, Reforest the Red, Race the Red Canoe and Kayak Races, Lil Anglers Clinic and Derby, Story Strolls, and a Winter Solstice Walk. 5. Leading resilient yard workshops, such as, Make Your Own Rain Barrel and Make Your Own Compost Tumbler, 6. Recruiting volunteers to pick up trash in and along the Red River, mark storm drains with Drains to River stickers, create Tshirt totes, 7. and working with local governments on river access and safety.

Operating model

Revenue model
Grant-funded. 60% of the money available for current operations came from government grants.
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

STRONG - The filed numbers largely add up and a large share of available resources goes toward mission work. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 73
  • Transparency & Controls: 100
  • Accountability: 76
  • Sustainability: 45
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 74%; rating input score 74
  • Program expense ratio: 76.4%; rating input score 76
  • Fundraising efficiency: $17.91 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 55; 55th 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; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 3 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 43
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 3.9%; rating input score 48; 48th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.81; rating input score 56; 56th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.02; rating input score 42; 42nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 40.4%; rating input score 6; 6th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 1.9% per year; rating input score 100; 39th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 0.9% per year; rating input score 100; 28th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 13.6% per year; rating input score 100; 75th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 74% of revenue deployed · 76.4% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 15 of 15 board members independent · 3 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $183K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $97K · 14 people listed
  • Consistency: 29 of 29 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 12 filing years from 2013 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • 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: 3 of 6 not reported.
  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 55/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 48/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 56/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 6/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 42/100.