Wild Earth Society Incorporated

What it reported doing in 2024

Eastern Wildway: We completed our third year of research at Gorges State Park, monitoring and assessing the effectiveness of four small wildlife road crossing culverts. We identified wildlife crossing opportunities within North Carolinas state parks and presented the opportunities to the High Country Rural Planning Association in Boone, the NC State Parks Symposium at Haw River State Park, and the NC Department of Natural and Cultural Resources. Building on our research efforts, we worked with NCDOT staff to create and edit three renderings of wildlife crossing designs for the I-40 corridor. We coordinated with partners to raise over $2.3 million in private funds to support a $25 million application from NCDOT to the Willdife Crossing Pilot Program for US-64 wildlife crossings, which was successful. We conducted an advertising campaign for the existing Prey for the Pack incentives program, with five qualifying landowners responding to these efforts, adding as much as 1,698 acres to the Prey for the Pack program. Our Future Forest Reimagined initiative launched a virtual workshop series for eight UNESCO Biosphere regions in Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Ontario, as well as partners in New York and Vermont, within or bordering the Northern Appalachian-Acadian-Wabanaki bioregion.

Financial Efficiency

• Mission deployment rate: 62.8%; rating input score 63
• Program expense ratio: 79%; rating input score 79
• Fundraising efficiency: $111 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 88; 88th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

• Consistency checks: 87.5%; rating input score 88; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
• Pay-setting controls: Limited
• Foreign activity oversight: Scored; rating input score 0
• Grant itemization coverage: 93.5%; rating input score 94; 28th 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: 7 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 78
  • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
  • Whistleblower policy: Pass
  • Document-retention policy: Pass
  • CEO compensation review process: Fail
  • 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: Pass

Sustainability

• Operating margin: 20.7%; rating input score 77; 77th percentile among comparable filings
• Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.96; rating input score 35; 35th percentile among comparable filings
• Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.05; rating input score 71; 71st percentile among comparable filings
• Officer compensation ratio: 13.1%; rating input score 22; 22nd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

• Program expense growth: 14.8% per year; rating input score 100; 77th percentile among comparable filings
• Revenue growth: 13.4% per year; rating input score 100; 78th percentile among comparable filings
• Asset growth: 18% per year; rating input score 100; 80th percentile among comparable filings