Sturgeons Mill Restoration Project

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
680267335
IRS 990 coverage
2022–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2021, Form 990-T 2022
Location
Sebastopol, CA, USA
Phone
7078292479
Rating
62
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Museum, Museum Activities

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$109,389
Expenses
$57,120
Assets
$711,964
Liabilities
$0

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

Leadership & pay

8 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • TOM SCHAEFFER (President)
  • JESS TODD (VICE-PRESIDENT)

People named in this filing

  • TOM SCHAEFFER (President)
  • ESTHER DOTY (SECRE/TREASURER)
  • JESS TODD (VICE-PRESIDENT)

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

1.restore historic saw mill.2.provide working museum for elementary school students to view steam mill operation while on field trips.

What it reported doing in 2025

Sturgeon's mill is a 100+ year old steam powered sawmill. We are a working museum that is opened 4 weekends a year to the general public. The mill allows historians, gear heads, steam heads and students to"step back into history". The mill is run by volunteers and served over 1000 people including students during 2024.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 95% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
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 a large share of total spending goes to programs. A relatively small share of voting board members are independent and a relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 64
  • Transparency & Controls: 90
  • Accountability: 0
  • Sustainability: 86
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 48.6%; rating input score 49
  • Program expense ratio: 86.2%; rating input score 86
  • Fundraising efficiency: $50.73 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 74; 74th percentile among comparable filings

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: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 0%; rating input score 0; 8th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 0 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 0
    • 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: Fail
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 47.8%; rating input score 90; 90th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 12.46; rating input score 91; 91st 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: 9.1% per year; rating input score 100; 65th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 5.1% per year; rating input score 100; 48th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 4% per year; rating input score 100; 39th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 48.6% of revenue deployed · 86.2% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 0 of 8 board members independent · 0 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $49K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 8 people listed
  • Consistency: 18 of 18 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 4 filing years from 2022 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: Resolved incoming and outgoing counterparties from filed money flows.
  • 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 — Accountability: Independent voting board scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 49/100.
  • High — Accountability: Governance controls: 6 of 6 not reported.
  • High — Grant Readiness: California registration: this organization is not authorized to operate as a charity in California.