Vermont Rural Water Association
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 030282848
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2011–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025, Form 990-T 2021
- Location
- Essex Junction, VT, USA
- Phone
- 8026604988
- Rating
- 87
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Professional Societies, Associations
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $1,741,093
- Expenses
- $1,552,062
- Assets
- $1,193,896
- Liabilities
- $139,222
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
6 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Elizabeth Royer (Executive Director)
- Ray Counter (President)
- Margaret Dwyer (Vice President)
Highest reported compensation
- Elizabeth Royer (Executive Director): $113,959 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
To promote public health and a clean environment by providing support to public water and wastewater systems.
What it reported doing in 2025
See Schedule O.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Grant-funded. 71% of the money available for current operations came from government grants.
- 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
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 expenses are high relative to revenue.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 83
- Transparency & Controls: 92
- Accountability: 95
- Sustainability: 47
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 89.2%; rating input score 89
- Program expense ratio: 99.9%; rating input score 100
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
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: 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: 7 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 88
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Fail
- CEO compensation review process: Pass
- Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 10.9%; rating input score 58; 58th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.77; rating input score 35; 35th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.12; rating input score 33; 33rd percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 7.3%; rating input score 45; 45th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 6.4% per year; rating input score 100; 43rd percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 6.2% per year; rating input score 100; 44th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 6.5% per year; rating input score 100; 42nd percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 89.2% of revenue deployed · 99.9% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 5 of 5 board members independent · 7 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $1.6M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $114K · 6 people listed
- Consistency: 32 of 32 current checks pass
- Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 15 filing years from 2011 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
- Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
- 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.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Document-retention policy not reported.
- Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 58/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 35/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 33/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 45/100.