WNC Communities

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
560797766
IRS 990 coverage
2020–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Asheville, NC, USA
Phone
8282524783
Rating
83
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Agricultural Programs

Reported finances

Revenue
$4,553,895
Expenses
$3,992,670
Assets
$4,362,014
Liabilities
$95,023

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

21 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Jennifer L Ferre (Executive Director)
  • K Ray Bailey (President Emeritus)
  • Dean Kanipe (President)
  • Jimmy Cowan (Vice President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Jennifer L Ferre (Executive Director): $94,186 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

WNC Communities empowers the people of Western North Carolina to cultivate the vitality and prosperity of mountain communities through collaboration and agricultural opportunities. This mission is accomplished through a program of work focused on community development, agriculture revenue, and forest health.

What it reported doing in 2024

Hemlock Restoration Initiative (HRI): The objective of HRI is to restore eastern and Carolina hemlocks to their native habitats throughout North Carolina and to mitigate damage to hemlocks caused by infestation of the hemlock woolly adelgid. More specifically, the goal is to work with a variety of partners and current restoration initiatives to ensure that eastern and Carolina hemlocks can resist the deadly hemlock woolly adelgid and survive to maturity on North Carolinas public and private lands. This involves Identifying and establishing hemlock conservation areas, educating landowners on how to economically treat and manage the hemlocks, increasing the number of trees being treated on public lands, implementing Integrated Pest Management and long-term biological controls and advancing the development of other control strategies and restoration techniques. . In 2024, over 19,000 trees were treated in 18 counties in WNC; 26 outreach events, educational hikes, and presentations were given; 4 management workshops/ demonstrations were provided and 858 volunteer hours were utilized in the HRI program.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 70% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Grant intermediary. The nonprofit sent 74% of its reported program spending out as grants.

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 total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 85
  • Transparency & Controls: 86
  • Accountability: 74
  • Sustainability: 61
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 80.8%; rating input score 81
  • Program expense ratio: 92%; rating input score 92
  • Fundraising efficiency: $76.43 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 84; 84th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 85.7%; rating input score 86; 1st percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 99.3%; rating input score 99; 38th 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: 3 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 38
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 12.3%; rating input score 67; 67th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.09; rating input score 40; 40th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.02; rating input score 80; 80th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 2.4%; rating input score 73; 73rd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 23.9% per year; rating input score 100; 89th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 22.5% per year; rating input score 100; 90th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 5.3% per year; rating input score 100; 36th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 80.8% of revenue deployed · 92% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 20 of 20 board members independent · 3 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $3.7M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $94K · 21 people listed
  • Highest-paid contractors: 1 contractor listed · $137K reported
  • Consistency: 27 of 29 current checks pass · 2 findings to review
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
  • Filing history: 5 filing years from 2020 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 11 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.

Key Signals

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

  • Moderate — Accountability: Governance controls: 4 of 7 not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 40/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.