Sutter Mutual Water Company

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
941145434
IRS 990 coverage
2022–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Robbins, CA, USA
Phone
5307384423
Rating
62
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Water Resource, Wetlands Conservation and Management

Reported finances

Revenue
$28,024,274
Expenses
$9,291,472
Assets
$72,501,337
Liabilities
$15,626,880

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

Leadership & pay

10 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Bill Henle (President)
  • Steven Butler (Vice President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Roger Cornwell (Secretary): $342,322 total reported compensation
  • JON SCOTT (OPERATIONS MANAGER): $230,623 total reported compensation
  • Melissa Patterson (Treasurer): $197,880 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Agriculture water delivery and maintenance of delivery system to stockholders of the company.

What it reported doing in 2024

Performed all functions needed to supply water to members for crop irrigation.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 95% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
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 - Most voting board members are independent and the filed numbers largely add up. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and few specific pay-setting methods are documented in the filing; unanswered boxes are not proof of absence.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 45
  • Transparency & Controls: 60
  • Accountability: 95
  • Sustainability: 88
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 28%; rating input score 28
  • Program expense ratio: 88.4%; rating input score 88
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 0 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 0
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Missing
  • 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; 66th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 7 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 88
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • 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: 66.8%; rating input score 97; 97th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 7.8; rating input score 89; 89th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.22; rating input score 56; 56th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 1.2%; rating input score 84; 84th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -0.3% per year; rating input score 0; 10th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 32.9% per year; rating input score 100; 97th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 39.1% per year; rating input score 100; 98th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 28% of revenue deployed · 88.4% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 7 of 7 board members independent · 7 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment
  • Leadership: top reported pay $342K · 10 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $1.2M reported
  • Consistency: 22 of 22 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules · includes executive pay
  • Filing history: 3 filing years from 2022 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.

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 — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 28/100.
  • High — Transparency & Controls: Pay-setting controls scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Whistleblower policy not reported.
  • Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 56/100.
  • High — Grant Readiness: Automatic revocation: this organization had its federal tax-exempt status automatically revoked.