The Forge

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
992848165
IRS 990 coverage
2025–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
West Point, MS, USA
Phone
6624929555
Rating
67
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Youth Development Programs

Reported finances

Revenue
$326,521
Expenses
$194,696
Assets
$138,886
Liabilities
$7,061

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

Leadership & pay

5 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • KATIE MCCRARY (PRESIDENT)
  • NIC PARISH (VICE PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • MELINDA LOWE (KEY PERSON): $60,500 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

We are forging a future where trades are valued while building individual wellbeing.

What it reported doing in 2025

FORGE Your Path Career Expo Description: The FORGE Your Path Career Expo is a large-scale hands-on career exploration event designed for 8th grade students. The Expo connects students with industry professionals across construction and skilled trades through interactive exhibits equipment demonstrations and real-world career experiences. The program is designed to increase awareness of high-demand career pathways and help students make informed decisions about their future education and workforce opportunities. Accomplishments: During the year the program served approximately 2,400 students from 12 counties engaging over 100 industry partners and volunteers. Students participated in immersive hands-on experiences that introduced them to career pathways they may not otherwise encounter helping to bridge the gap between education and workforce needs.

Operating model

Revenue model
Affiliate-supported. 80% of the money available for current operations came from contributions from related organizations.
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 most voting board members are independent. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 53
  • Transparency & Controls: 90
  • Accountability: 79
  • Sustainability: 54
  • Growth: NotEnoughData

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 44%; rating input score 44
  • Program expense ratio: 73.5%; rating input score 73
  • Fundraising efficiency: $9.78 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 37; 37th 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: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 4 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • 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: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 40.4%; rating input score 86; 86th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.71; rating input score 32; 32nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.05; rating input score 27; 27th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 31.1%; rating input score 10; 10th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: Limited
  • Revenue growth: Limited
  • Asset growth: Limited

Details

  • Where the money goes: 44% of revenue deployed · 73.5% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 5 of 5 board members independent · 4 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 9 filed program accomplishments · $143K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $60K · 5 people listed
  • Consistency: 42 of 42 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • 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.

  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 44/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 7 not reported.
  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 37/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 32/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 10/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 27/100.