Upper Valley Trails Alliance Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 030369847
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2014–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2013
- Location
- Norwich, VT, USA
- Phone
- 8026499075
- Rating
- 81
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Education N.E.C.
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $481,702
- Expenses
- $441,556
- Assets
- $646,461
- Liabilities
- $10,799
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
15 people listed
Highest reported compensation
- Russel Hirschler (Executive Dir.): $79,104 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 advocate for the use, maintenance and development of trails in the region. Through education, outreach, and stewardship, we promote active lifestyles through trail use in all seasons, connect people and places through a regional trail network, and lead a coalition of local trail groups and advocates.
What it reported doing in 2025
Education and Outreach programs include: (1) the Upper Valley High School Trail Corps program; (2) Passport to Winter Fun; (3)"Trail Finder", and (4) outdoor events. - Our High School Trail Corps program provides an opportunity for high school students to spend time outdoors while learning to build trails in a sustainable way. Each year, our trail corp crews help improve more than 50 miles of trails. - Passport to Winter Fun is a fitness incentive program designed to keep children physically active during the winter season. Each participant receives a booklet in which they track their physical activity. There are prizes based on achievement and participants who complete the program are entered into a raffle. During 2025, we distributed more than six thousand booklets to children in schools and home school groups. - Trail Finder, which has been named the "official trail resource" for NH and VT, is a comprehensive online resource that contains detailed trail maps, directions to trailheads, current trail alerts and other useful information. Trail Finder had more than 300,000 users in 2025. - Outdoor events include the Tour de Taste which is a scenic pedaling picnic through the Connecticut River Valley and the Stoaked Trail Race, which is a part of the Western New Hampshire Running Services.
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.
- 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. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 72
- Transparency & Controls: 92
- Accountability: 84
- Sustainability: 47
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 74.2%; rating input score 74
- Program expense ratio: 79.5%; rating input score 80
- Fundraising efficiency: $8.72 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 34; 34th 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: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th 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: Fail
- 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: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 8.3%; rating input score 54; 54th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.46; rating input score 51; 51st percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.02; rating input score 36; 36th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 17.9%; rating input score 20; 20th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 6.7% per year; rating input score 100; 57th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 6.8% per year; rating input score 100; 57th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 11.6% per year; rating input score 100; 67th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 74.2% of revenue deployed · 79.5% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 14 of 14 board members independent · 5 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $351K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $79K · 15 people listed
- Consistency: 26 of 26 current checks pass
- Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 11 filing years from 2014 to 2025
- 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.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 8 not reported.
- Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 34/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 54/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 51/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 20/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 36/100.