Russian River Chamber of Commerce
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 941482882
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2015–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2022
- Location
- Guerneville, CA, USA
- Phone
- 7078699000
- Rating
- 75
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Vocational Rehabilitation
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $202,872
- Expenses
- $199,341
- Assets
- $188,566
- Liabilities
- $23,999
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
10 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- NICHOLAS SCHWANZ (PRESIDENT)
- ALICE HUNTER (VICE-PRESIDENT AND TREASURER)
People named in this filing
- NICHOLAS SCHWANZ (PRESIDENT)
- MARGARET VAN DER VEEN (BOARD MEMBER)
- JIMMY KANSAU (BOARD MEMBER)
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 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
The Russian River Chamber is organized to promote the general welfare and prosperity of the Russian River area business community and promotes the River Area as a whole. It coordinates community fundraising efforts and operates the Russian River Visitors center in Guerneville.
What it reported doing in 2024
The County of Sonoma, through its advertising funds, contracts with the Russian River Chamber to staff the tourist information center in downtown Guerneville, CA. The visitor center handled 552 phone calls, 3,012 walk-in visitors, distributed 9,802 maps and brochures. The center website also had a record 133,518 visits during the year.
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 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.
The verdict
SUPPORTED - The filed numbers largely add up and a large share of available resources goes toward mission work. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 65
- Transparency & Controls: 90
- Accountability: 82
- Sustainability: 43
- Growth: 60
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 69.6%; rating input score 70
- Program expense ratio: 70.8%; rating input score 71
- Fundraising efficiency: $4.7 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 21; 21st 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: Limited
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 4 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 57
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Fail
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- 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: 1.7%; rating input score 44; 44th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.95; rating input score 39; 39th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.13; rating input score 24; 24th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 69; 69th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: -5.4% per year; rating input score 0; 16th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 2% per year; rating input score 100; 35th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 1.3% per year; rating input score 100; 30th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 69.6% of revenue deployed · 70.8% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 10 of 10 board members independent · 4 of 7 filing controls reported
- Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $141K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 10 people listed
- Consistency: 24 of 24 current checks pass
- Schedules: 3 filed schedules
- Filing history: 8 filing years from 2015 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: Resolved incoming and outgoing counterparties from filed money flows.
- 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.
- High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 21/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 6 not reported.
- High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 44/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 39/100.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 24/100.