West Fargo Rural Fire Department

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
450362380
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-N 2019
Location
West Fargo, ND, USA
Phone
7018661385
Rating
76
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Fire Prevention

Reported finances

Revenue
$1,089,128
Expenses
$730,312
Assets
$3,650,784
Liabilities
$0

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

Leadership & pay

6 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Scott Berge (President)
  • Scott Johnson (Vice President)
  • Brandon Gaugler (2nd Vice President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Steve Baron (Fire Chief): $94,241 total reported compensation
  • Scott Johnson (Vice President): $4,200 total reported compensation
  • Corey Markel (Secretary): $2,669 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Fire Protection

What it reported doing in 2025

West Fargo Rural Fire Department provides fire and emergency services for the townships of Raymond and Mapleton-Barnes, as well as mutual aid to surrounding communities.

Operating model

Revenue model
Other-operating. 87% of the money available for current operations came from other operating revenue.
Distribution model
Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 68% for direct work, and 32% for grants.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - The filed numbers largely add up and a large share of available resources goes toward mission work. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and some filed totals do not add up.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 64
  • Transparency & Controls: 87
  • Accountability: 77
  • Sustainability: 78
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 61.4%; rating input score 61
  • Program expense ratio: 89.4%; rating input score 89
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 90.9%; rating input score 91; 10th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 94.7%; rating input score 95; 45th 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; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 4 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 44
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 32.9%; rating input score 84; 84th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 5; rating input score 84; 84th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 88; 88th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 14.4%; rating input score 26; 26th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 19.7% per year; rating input score 100; 79th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 18.4% per year; rating input score 100; 80th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 13.3% per year; rating input score 100; 65th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 61.4% of revenue deployed · 89.4% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 5 of 5 board members independent · 4 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $653K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $94K · 6 people listed
  • Consistency: 24 of 25 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
  • Filing history: 12 filing years from 2010 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 16 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 10 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 — Accountability: Governance controls: 4 of 8 not reported.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 26/100.