Squaw Alpine Transit Company Dba Mountaineer Transit Company

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
832252409
IRS 990 coverage
2018–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-N 2017
Location
Alpine Meadows, CA, USA
Phone
5305837545
Rating
82
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$1,548,990
Expenses
$1,396,851
Assets
$1,309,678
Liabilities
$0

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

Leadership & pay

9 people listed

People named in this filing

  • JOSEPH SHIPMAN (Director)
  • GINGER KARL (Director)
  • PAT FRASER (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 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

To provide transit within Olympic Valley and Alpine Meadows to assessed businesses' guests, employees, owners, and visitors to improve resort traffic congestion, guests experience, and safety.

What it reported doing in 2024

Mountaineer provided microtransit services December 7, 2024 through April 20, 2025 as outlined in the OVAM MD MDP. The season comprised of 135 operating days. This was the second consecutive season that Mountaineer provided transportation to 100,000+ passengers. Furthermore, Mountaineer had its two busiest days on record during the 2024-25 season, serving 2,286 passengers on December 24, 2024 and 2,146 passengers on February 8, 2025. Last, Mountaineer set a record in the 24-25 season for transporting the most passengers, 3,771 (a 37% YOY increase) between Olympic Valley and Alpine Meadows 5pm-11pm. In total, since its inaugural season beginning in December 2018, Mountaineer has transported 506,609 passengers and provided 244,206 rides of which 57% were shared. As a result of Mountaineer since its inception, nearly 90,000 cars have been removed from Olympic Valley and Alpine Meadows roads and more than 150,000 vehicle miles traveled were reduced.

Operating model

Revenue model
Grant-funded. 82% 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

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 77
  • Transparency & Controls: 90
  • Accountability: 82
  • Sustainability: 61
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 82.9%; rating input score 83
  • Program expense ratio: 91.7%; rating input score 92
  • 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: 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: Fail
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 9.8%; rating input score 61; 61st percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.94; rating input score 41; 41st percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 91; 91st percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 81; 81st percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 15.8% per year; rating input score 100; 77th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 17.3% per year; rating input score 100; 82nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 33.5% per year; rating input score 100; 92nd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 82.9% of revenue deployed · 91.7% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 9 of 9 board members independent · 4 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $1.3M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 9 people listed
  • Highest-paid contractors: 1 contractor listed · $1.5M reported
  • Consistency: 16 of 16 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 1 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 7 filing years from 2018 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • 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.

  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 7 not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 41/100.