Torchbearr

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
873096046
IRS 990 coverage
2024–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2023
Location
Somes Bar, CA, USA
Phone
5306434026
Rating
69
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Forest Conservation

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$793,828
Expenses
$544,278
Assets
$259,822
Liabilities
$6

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

Leadership & pay

8 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Erica Terence (Executive Director)

Highest reported compensation

  • Scot Steinbring (Board Member & Contracted Operations Director): $157,703 total reported compensation
  • Erica Terence (Executive Director): $24,720 total reported compensation
  • Alisha Gaskins (Board Treasurer & Contracted Bookkeeper): $5,202 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Torchbearr promotes prescribed burning for a brighter fire future for all. We use hands-on prescribed burning, professional training and public education, and burn planning and consulting to accomplish our mission.

What it reported doing in 2025

Professional training and public education

Operating model

Revenue model
Other-operating. 100% of the money available for current operations came from other operating 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 - A large share of total spending goes to programs and the filed numbers largely add up. 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: 61
  • Transparency & Controls: 77
  • Accountability: 68
  • Sustainability: 55
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 59.1%; rating input score 59
  • Program expense ratio: 86.2%; rating input score 86
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Pass
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 85.7%; rating input score 86; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 4 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 44
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • 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: 31.4%; rating input score 83; 83rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.48; rating input score 23; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 76; 76th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 34.5%; rating input score 6; 6th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 70.6% per year; rating input score 100; 97th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 70.8% per year; rating input score 100; 98th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 110% per year; rating input score 100; 99th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 59.1% of revenue deployed · 86.2% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 6 of 7 board members independent · 4 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $469K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $158K · 8 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 42 of 42 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes executive pay
  • Filing history: 2 filing years from 2024 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 4 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 — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 59/100.
  • Moderate — Accountability: Governance controls: 4 of 8 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 23/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 6/100.