Squannacook Greenways

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
453244076
IRS 990 coverage
2011–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Townsend, MA, USA
Phone
9785975413
Rating
68
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Parks and Playgrounds

Reported finances

Revenue
$121,202
Expenses
$7,432
Assets
$154,302
Liabilities
$0

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

Leadership & pay

10 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Linda Mack (Vice-President)
  • Peter Cunningham (President)

People named in this filing

  • Mark Cram (Director)
  • Frank Murphy (Director)
  • Daniel Hager (Director)

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 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Squannacook Greenways' goal is to build, maintain, and promote the Squannacook River Rail Trail (SRRT) as a source of recreation and safe non-motorized transportation. The Squannacook River Rail Trail is a proposed conversion of approximately 3.7 miles of abandoned railroad in Townsend and Groton Massachusetts into a recreational trail based on the successful model of the Wachusett Greenways. The stone dust trail will provide a safe alternative to bike-unfriendly Route 119 and an enjoyable route for human-powered travel between important natural, historic, and cultural landmarks. The SRRT has potential to become a long-distance trail extending to the Nashua River Rail Trail in Ayer, Massachusetts and to the Mason-Greenville Railroad Trail in New Hampshire. This rail trail would be used by the public without fees, as specified in Article II of our articles of incorporation.

What it reported doing in 2025

Construction of the fourth of four phases of the Squannacook River Rail Trail was completed in spring 2023, with a total of 3.7 miles open. The rail trail has already become a beloved part of the area. A large opening ceremony was held June 1, 2024, attended by hundreds of people and our state representatives. The trail continues to be deeply beloved by the community. In 2025, in addition to maintaining the existing trail, we also started planning for extensions to both ends of the trail. We won a grant and signed contracts with engineering firms.

Operating model

Revenue model
Grant-funded. 99% 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

SUPPORTED - 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 some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 36
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 82
  • Sustainability: 91
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 6.1%; rating input score 6
  • Program expense ratio: 99.5%; rating input score 99
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

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; 64th 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: 93.9%; rating input score 99; 99th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 20.76; rating input score 95; 95th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 77; 77th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 67; 67th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 20.1% per year; rating input score 100; 83rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 18.4% per year; rating input score 100; 85th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 12.9% per year; rating input score 100; 71st percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 6.1% of revenue deployed · 99.5% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 10 of 10 board members independent · 4 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $7K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 10 people listed
  • Consistency: 14 of 14 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 15 filing years from 2011 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: Resolved incoming and outgoing counterparties from filed money flows.
  • Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
  • 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: Mission deployment rate scored 6/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 6 not reported.