Trees Forever Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
421419181
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Marion, IA, USA
Phone
3193730650
Rating
80
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Natural Resources Conservation and Protection

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$3,658,423
Expenses
$3,906,456
Assets
$4,196,279
Liabilities
$1,411,927

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

Leadership & pay

21 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • MICHELLE BEISKER (CEO)

Highest reported compensation

  • MICHELLE BEISKER (CEO): $170,120 total reported compensation
  • DAN WASHBURN (CSFO): $143,887 total reported compensation
  • HEATHER CROSKREY (STAFF REP): $87,199 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Trees forever mission is to plant and care for trees and the environment by empowering people, building community and promoting stewardship. Our philosophy has always been to involve people in projects that educate them in ways that ensure long term sustainability. For example, trees planted in participating communities have a survival rate of 91%. Trees forever achieves this through cutting-edge programs and innovative practices. Our trained and experienced staff assists and engages an average of 7,000 volunteers, community leaders and landowners across Iowa and Illinois with thousands of planting projects each year. We do this by engaging volunteers in thorough planning processes that result in projects with the best chance for success, by providing friendly and knowledgeable assistance to community volunteers and leaders who are interested in planting and caring for trees and natural areas, and by working with rural landowners who are committed to planting strips of land with native

What it reported doing in 2025

In 2025 trees forever educated individuals of all ages to care for trees: trees forever provides informative programs and hands-on learning experiences that build participants' knowledge of tree care, environmental stewardship, and conservation. In 2025 through the stewards of the beautiful land program with the Iowa department of transportation's living roadway trust fund, trees forever hosted twleve webinars that engaged participants on topics related to conservation and tree planting and care. Also, through the stewards of the beautiful land educational program, various hands-on field days included plant and tree id, seed harvest, prairie walks and planting events that engaged 844 participants. The trees forever treekeepers program reaches volunteers across the nation to train and educate them in supporting urban forestry in their hometowns. In 2025, 499 people participated in the online series of trainings. Through all of trees forevers work, the group promotes the planting of diverse, native trees and prairie to build a more resilient and beneficial local ecosystem. Trees forever provides education to the public on a variety of environmental topics with in-person field days, webinar series, and volunteer trainings. In 2025, the organization had more than 6,700 engagements through educational outreach, volunteer events, and supporter interactions.

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 85% 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.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

The verdict

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Few specific pay-setting methods are documented in the filing; unanswered boxes are not proof of absence and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 82
  • Transparency & Controls: 71
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 23
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 90.1%; rating input score 90
  • Program expense ratio: 84.2%; rating input score 84
  • Fundraising efficiency: $11.39 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 40; 40th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd 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: 100%; rating input score 100; 75th 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: 9 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 100
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • 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: -6.8%; rating input score 13; 13th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.07; rating input score 36; 36th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.34; rating input score 24; 24th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 11.5%; rating input score 29; 29th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 6.6% per year; rating input score 100; 44th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 6.6% per year; rating input score 100; 49th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 11.7% per year; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 90.1% of revenue deployed · 84.2% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 14 of 14 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $3.3M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $170K · 21 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 31 of 31 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 9 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 16 filing years from 2010 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 15 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 12 filed related-organization links
  • 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.
  • Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • High — Transparency & Controls: Pay-setting controls scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 40/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 13/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 36/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 24/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 29/100.