Upstate Forever
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 571070433
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2010–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025
- Location
- Greenville, SC, USA
- Phone
- 8642500500
- Rating
- 90
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Alliance/Advocacy Organizations
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $7,284,433
- Expenses
- $7,691,756
- Assets
- $9,505,667
- Liabilities
- $88,315
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
22 people listed
Highest reported compensation
- ALDON KNIGHT (EXECUTIVE DI): $143,670 total reported compensation
- MORGAN MARTIN (DEVELOPMENT): $122,631 total reported compensation
- JOY DICKERSON (FINANCIAL DI): $113,888 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Upstate forever is a conservation organization with a mission to protect critical lands, waters, and the unique character of the upstate of South Carolina.
What it reported doing in 2025
In 2025, land planning and policy staff engaged with local elected and appointed officials and government staff on issues related to smarter land development, with a primary focus on advancing policies that implement city and county comprehensive plans.they partnered on education and advocacy efforts with transit and housing advocates and facilitated a citizens planning academy to educate residents on local land use policies and avenues to influence decision-making. Social media and dedicated email lists were used to engage and activate residents. The organization supported the adoption of a new city of greenville development code, a unified development ordinance in the city of greer, a new zoning ordinance in the city of woodruff, and an improved tree and landscaping ordinance in the city of anderson. Citizens were mobilized to influence the city of greenville's proposed development code and to advance strengthened requirements for riparian buffers in greenville county. The organization also participated in other local planning and policy efforts in the city of spartanburg and spartanburg county.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Grant-funded. 67% of the money available for current operations came from government grants.
- Distribution model
- Grant intermediary. The nonprofit sent 62% of its reported program spending out as grants.
- 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. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and expenses are high relative to revenue.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 89
- Transparency & Controls: 94
- Accountability: 95
- Sustainability: 34
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 95.8%; rating input score 96
- Program expense ratio: 90.6%; rating input score 91
- Fundraising efficiency: $12.69 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 44; 44th 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: 99.9%; rating input score 100; 48th 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: 8 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 89
- 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: Fail
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -5.6%; rating input score 14; 14th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.24; rating input score 41; 41st percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.01; rating input score 79; 79th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 6.4%; rating input score 48; 48th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 11.9% per year; rating input score 100; 67th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 7.7% per year; rating input score 100; 56th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 8% per year; rating input score 100; 49th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 95.8% of revenue deployed · 90.6% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 18 of 18 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $7M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $144K · 22 people listed
- Consistency: 37 of 37 current checks pass
- Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
- Filing history: 15 filing years from 2010 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 11 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 3 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.
Key Signals
Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.
- Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 44/100.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 14/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Form 990 shared with the board not reported.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 41/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 48/100.