Tread Lightly Incorporated
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 870481456
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2010–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- North Salt Lake, UT, USA
- Phone
- 8016270077
- Rating
- 88
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Alliance/Advocacy
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $1,662,600
- Expenses
- $2,527,942
- Assets
- $1,260,303
- Liabilities
- $482,128
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
22 people listed
Highest reported compensation
- Michael Sype (Marketing Director): $105,348 total reported compensation
- Matt Gaskins (Exec Director): $79,802 total reported compensation
- Matt Caldwell (Exec Director): $53,149 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Tread Lightly! engages partnersincluding the U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, other public land agencies, industry, and recreation communitiesto protect and sustain motorized access to America's public lands through responsible recreation education, stewardship and partnership activation.
What it reported doing in 2024
During the fiscal year, Tread Lightly! advanced its mission to promote responsible outdoor recreation through stewardship, education, and strategic partnerships. The organization worked with public land agencies, nonprofit organizations, recreation groups, industry partners, local communities, and volunteers to protect public lands, improve recreation infrastructure, restore trails and natural resources, reduce environmental impacts, and support sustainable access to outdoor recreation. Program activities included trail maintenance and restoration, cleanup projects, habitat and watershed improvements, signage and visitor education, volunteer engagement, and responsible recreation outreach. These efforts helped strengthen conservation outcomes, improve the public-land recreation experience, and build long-term capacity for stewardship across diverse recreation communities.
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 96% 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. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and expenses are high relative to revenue.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 89
- Transparency & Controls: 94
- Accountability: 91
- Sustainability: 15
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
- Program expense ratio: 83.6%; rating input score 84
- Fundraising efficiency: $12.68 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 45; 45th 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: 100%; rating input score 100; 76th percentile among comparable filings
- 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: 7 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 78
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Fail
- Document-retention policy: Fail
- CEO compensation review process: Pass
- 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: -52%; rating input score 3; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.5; rating input score 23; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.38; rating input score 20; 20th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 9.4%; rating input score 39; 39th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 7.2% per year; rating input score 100; 53rd percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 4.9% per year; rating input score 100; 43rd percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 11.3% per year; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 83.6% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 20 of 20 board members independent · 7 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $2.1M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $105K · 22 people listed
- Consistency: 34 of 34 current checks pass
- Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
- Filing history: 15 filing years from 2010 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 4 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 1 filed related-organization link
- 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: Fundraising efficiency scored 45/100.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 3/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 9 not reported.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 23/100.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 20/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 39/100.