Southern Black Hills Water System
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 861133469
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2012–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025
- Location
- Hot Springs, SD, USA
- Phone
- 6057454669
- Rating
- 48
- Verdict
- MIXED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Public Utilities
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $4,926,261
- Expenses
- $1,157,962
- Assets
- $20,485,554
- Liabilities
- $4,045,710
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
9 people listed
Highest reported compensation
- DON PETERSON (MANAGER): $110,658 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
To plan and construct a regional water system with the purpose of providing safe and dependable water to all current and future residents, businesses, and communities of the southern black hills that are in need of water by the most economic and timely means possible.
What it reported doing in 2025
To operate, maintain, and construct a regional water system and, as necessary, to conduct said business to acquire water and transfer the same for delivery and sale. To plan and construct a regional water system with the purpose of providing safe and dependable water to all current and future residents, businesses, and communities of the southern black hills that are in need of water by the most economic and timely means possible.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Grant-funded. 82% of the money available for current operations came from government grants.
- Distribution model
- Cannot be determined from the filing. The filing does not provide enough consistent spending detail to tell whether the nonprofit works directly or through others.
The verdict
MIXED - The filed numbers largely add up and most voting board members are independent. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and a relatively small share of total spending goes to programs.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 0
- Transparency & Controls: 92
- Accountability: 79
- Sustainability: 81
- Growth: 20
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 0%; rating input score 0
- Program expense ratio: 0%; rating input score 0
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd 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: 4 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 50
- 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: Fail
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 76.5%; rating input score 96; 96th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 17.69; rating input score 93; 93rd percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.2; rating input score 35; 35th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 9.6%; rating input score 35; 35th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: -38.1% per year; rating input score 0; 1st percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: -1.6% per year; rating input score 0; 5th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 6.9% per year; rating input score 100; 44th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 0% of revenue deployed · 0% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 9 of 9 board members independent · 4 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment
- Leadership: top reported pay $111K · 9 people listed
- Highest-paid contractors: 3 contractors listed · $4.7M reported
- Consistency: 13 of 14 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 3 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 13 filing years from 2012 to 2025
- 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.
Grant-readiness screening is separate from the live rating, not a measure of program quality. Review the source records before making a grant decision.
- High — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 0/100.
- High — Financial Efficiency: Program expense ratio scored 0/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 4 of 8 not reported.
- High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
- High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Functional expense sum did not reconcile in the filed values.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 35/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 35/100.
- High — Grant Readiness: Automatic revocation: this organization had its federal tax-exempt status automatically revoked.
- High — Grant Readiness: Federal audit findings: this organization reported findings in its latest federal Single Audit.