The Colorado Trail Foundation

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
841057336
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Poncha Springs, CO, USA
Phone
7193981688
Rating
84
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Parks and Playgrounds

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$981,651
Expenses
$888,486
Assets
$2,744,862
Liabilities
$52,506

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

Leadership & pay

12 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Mark Ely (Vice President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Tisha McCombs (Executive Dir.): $110,075 total reported compensation
  • Paul Talley (Executive Dir.): $70,239 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

To provide, improve, and maintain, through voluntary public involvement and in cooperation with the USDA Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management, a linear, non-motorized, sustainable, scenic, recreation trail corridor for hikers, mountain bikers, and horse riders between Denver and Durango, Colorado: The Colorado Trail.

What it reported doing in 2024

Trail operations: Improve and maintain the Colorado Trail. The Colorado Trail Foundation sponsored 21 trail crews with a total of 651 volunteers. These trail crews built and refurbished hundreds of water diversions, removed trees and undergrowth, and eliminated rocks impeding the trail. Adopter volunteers cleared the trail, sawed and removed hundreds of fallen trees, cleaned water diversions, repaired rockslides, and repaired, replaced, and installed signs enabling hikers and horses to stay on the trail. Averaged out over the length of the Colorado Trail, this is roughly 20 hours of volunteer work per mile of trail. In all, 651 volunteers worked a total of 11,805 hours with 11 USFS Ranger Districts, 6 national forests, 2 ski resorts and other partner organizations to protect the trail for Colorado Trail users.All of this effort made 2024 one of our busiest years on record!

Operating model

Revenue model
Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
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 fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 80
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 84
  • Sustainability: 60
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 84.8%; rating input score 85
  • Program expense ratio: 82.7%; rating input score 83
  • Fundraising efficiency: $14.39 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 49; 49th percentile among comparable filings

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: 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: 5 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 62
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 9.5%; rating input score 60; 60th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 3.09; rating input score 76; 76th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.02; rating input score 63; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 20.3%; rating input score 14; 14th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 7.9% per year; rating input score 100; 55th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 7.2% per year; rating input score 100; 55th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 9.1% per year; rating input score 100; 56th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 84.8% of revenue deployed · 82.7% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 10 of 10 board members independent · 5 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $735K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $110K · 12 people listed
  • Consistency: 27 of 27 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 14 filing years from 2010 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
  • 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: 2 of 7 not reported.
  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 49/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 14/100.