Stay the Trail Education & Stewardship Alliance

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
510533294
IRS 990 coverage
2017–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2019, Form 990-PF 2016
Location
Arvada, CO, USA
Phone
3034340461
Rating
77
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Fund Raising and Fund Distribution

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$245,878
Expenses
$328,746
Assets
$77,932
Liabilities
$0

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

Leadership & pay

5 people listed

People named in this filing

  • MATT BALAZS (DIRECTOR)
  • ERIC FERRARO (TREASURER)
  • DAN KROB (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 off-highway vehicle ohv educational outreach and spread the message of responsible motorized recreation.

What it reported doing in 2024

Stay the trail's primary focus is education and direct delivery of the core message. On-the-ground, direct user contacts are the hallmark of the stay the trail program and have been established as a nationally-recognized effort. Utilizing several methods, we can safely interact with people on the ground, whether at a trailhead, staging area, on the trail or at small organized volunteer/stewardship projects. Outreach methods can include a complete set-up with one of the two stt educational trailers, a smaller tabletop booth set-up for indoor venues, and a pop-up tent and table at events with limited space or staffed by volunteers. Additionally, we get out on the trails and make contacts using the program's atv, utv, trucks, or employee motorcycles. Event venues include but are not limited to, trailheads, trails, expos, open houses, and organized club and motorsports events. 2024 education outreach summary 83 total staffed events/area visits 101 days with boots on the ground 10,629 overall direct contacts 40,936 exposed to the program through events 67 front range areas visited 16 western slope areas visited 6,601,516 exposed to the program through mixed-media messaging, 4 highway billboards with 23-month runtime (does not include the 4 mobile billboards) 521,210 people reached on social media (fb, ig), up 64.7 percent over 14,000 miles traveled to and from events over 1,342 miles traveled on public motorized routes by dirtbike/atv/sxs/4x4 1,895 volunteer hours at education & outreach events 1,402 volunteer hours from 22 volunteer/stewardship projects 14 youth-focused events that included the redesigned and rebuilt rc challenge course & rohver- the stt mascot 24 new areas/events were visited this year over 600 hours on usfs lands over 100 hours on blm lands over 300 hours on other land/property/business over 8,700 packages of printed educational materials were distributed

Operating model

Revenue model
Grant-funded. 96% 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 - 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 expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 85
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 64
  • Sustainability: 25
  • Growth: 20

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 86.5%; rating input score 87
  • 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; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 1 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 14
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -33.7%; rating input score 8; 8th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.24; rating input score 13; 13th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 80; 80th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 69; 69th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -1.9% per year; rating input score 0; 24th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -3.4% per year; rating input score 0; 13th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 0.7% per year; rating input score 100; 28th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 86.5% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 5 of 5 board members independent · 1 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $284K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 5 people listed
  • Consistency: 21 of 21 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 7 filing years from 2017 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.

  • High — Accountability: Governance controls: 5 of 6 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 8/100.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 13/100.