Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo

Legal name: Southwestern Exposition and Livestock Show

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
750575065
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2025
Official website data refreshed
Sep 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-T 2025
Location
Fort Worth, Texas, USA
Phone
817-877-2400
Rating
81
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Animal Husbandry

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$34,980,128
Expenses
$32,036,369
Assets
$62,786,589
Liabilities
$30,525,938

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

Leadership & pay

160 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • BRADFORD S BARNES (PRESIDENT EMERITUS - PARTIAL YEAR)
  • CHARLIE GEREN (VICE PRESIDENT)
  • SCOTT KLEBERG (VICE PRESIDENT)
  • MATTHEW CARTER (PRESIDENT/GENERAL MANAGER)

Highest reported compensation

  • MATTHEW CARTER (PRESIDENT/GENERAL MANAGER): $511,578 total reported compensation
  • BRADFORD S BARNES (PRESIDENT EMERITUS - PARTIAL YEAR): $416,431 total reported compensation
  • KIMBERLY DEWOODY (FINANCE DIRECTOR - PARTIAL YEAR): $264,848 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

The mission of the Equine Scholarship Committee is to support youth through equine-related scholarships.

What it reported doing in 2025

For purposes of stimulating interest and participation in the production, care and welfare of livestock the corporation facilitates various exhibitions and competitions featuring said animals. Livestock raised for food production are evaluated on their genetic and phenotypic potential to produce affordable, nutritious and safe meat protein and dairy products. Equine competitions test the skills of equine and equestrian partners in performance competitions while other contests evaluate equine peers based on age, sex and breed for desirable characteristics related to physical conformation. Contests and competitions for youth test an individual or a team on knowledge of a specific subject (e.g. Carcass and retail meat cut evaluation, live animal evaluation, beef cattle production or equine management practices). Additional youth contests include shooting sports, agricultural robotics, agricultural mechanics (farm and ranch equipment), horticulture and rangeland plant identification to name a few. Finally, our industry's western heritage is celebrated during 25 performances of world-class rodeo in dickies arena. Specialty rodeos celebrate local heritage (e.g. Hispanic and african american culture) while other performances feature the nation's most elite male and female athletes in professional rodeo that compete for equal purses in all of the traditional rodeo events.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 72% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 90% 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 - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. The filing does not identify recipients for some grant dollars and expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 81
  • Transparency & Controls: 74
  • Accountability: 96
  • Sustainability: 48
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 89.7%; rating input score 90
  • Program expense ratio: 93%; rating input score 93
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 94.1%; rating input score 94; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 4 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 67
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 42%; rating input score 42; 15th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 93.3%; rating input score 93; 22nd 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: 8.4%; rating input score 54; 54th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.96; rating input score 52; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.49; rating input score 27; 27th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 8.4%; rating input score 33; 33rd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 4.9% per year; rating input score 100; 39th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 5.1% per year; rating input score 100; 41st percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 7.7% per year; rating input score 100; 55th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 3 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
  • Where the money goes: 89.7% of revenue deployed · 93% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 139 of 149 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $29.8M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $512K · 160 people listed · 4 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $1M reported
  • Consistency: 36 of 37 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 9 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 16 filing years from 2010 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 74 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 12 filed related-organization links
  • 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 — Transparency & Controls: Grant itemization coverage scored 42/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 54/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 52/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 27/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 33/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.