Watch Duty

Legal name: Sherwood Forestry Service

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
871454433
IRS 990 coverage
2022–2024
Official website data refreshed
Sep 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-N 2021
Location
Santa Rosa, CA, USA
Phone
4153233164
Rating
61
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Safety Education

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$4,733,546
Expenses
$2,023,658
Assets
$4,873,441
Liabilities
$1,115,165

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

Leadership & pay

8 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • JOHN MILLS (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)
  • STEVEN MILLS (VICE PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • DAVID MERRITT (SECRETARY): $227,038 total reported compensation
  • BRIAN HARRIS (TREASURER): $221,938 total reported compensation
  • NICHOLAS RUSSELL (VP OF OPERATIONS): $170,833 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

To keep communities safe by providing timely, trusted information about extreme weather events, starting with wildfires and expanding to all-hazards.

What it reported doing in 2024

Our service is powered by real people active and retired firefighters, dispatchers, and first responders, who diligently monitor radio scanners and collaborate around the clock to bring you up-to-the-minute life saving information. Our mission is to publish only the facts that provide true situational awareness in case of emergency, without editorialization or prediction. We honor integrity and correctness over speed or sensationalism so we can build and maintain trust with not only our community but our first responders. As such, we adhere to a strict code of conduct for all of our reporting.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 82% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
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

SUPPORTED - The filed numbers largely add up and most filed governance safeguards are in place. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and few specific pay-setting methods are documented in the filing; unanswered boxes are not proof of absence.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 51
  • Transparency & Controls: 60
  • Accountability: 71
  • Sustainability: 69
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 34.5%; rating input score 34
  • Program expense ratio: 79.7%; rating input score 80
  • Fundraising efficiency: $13.99 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 49; 49th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 0 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 0
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Missing
  • Foreign activity oversight: Scored; rating input score 0
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 50%; rating input score 50; 8th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 9 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 100
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: Pass
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 57.2%; rating input score 94; 94th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.41; rating input score 68; 68th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.23; rating input score 41; 41st percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 51.5%; rating input score 1; 1st percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 96.7% per year; rating input score 100; 99th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 104.2% per year; rating input score 100; 99th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 119% per year; rating input score 100; 100th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 4 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
  • Where the money goes: 34.5% of revenue deployed · 79.7% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 2 of 4 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $1.6M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $227K · 8 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 1 contractor listed · $118K reported
  • Consistency: 29 of 29 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 3 filing years from 2022 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 7 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 1 filed related-organization link
  • 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.
  • Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 34/100.
  • High — Transparency & Controls: Pay-setting controls scored 0/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Independent voting board scored 50/100.
  • High — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 49/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 1/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 41/100.