New Mexico Land Conservancy

Overview

Mission

To preserve New Mexico's land heritage by helping people conserve the places they love. Nmlc works with landowners and others to protect wildlife habitat, agricultural lands, scenic open space, cultural and historic resources, and recreational lands.

What it reported doing in 2024

In fy25, nmlc completed 2 conservation easements in 2024 (hermosa-kelsey and gibson ranch), with an additional acreage amendment to an existing conservation easement for ute lake ranch, protecting 4,273 acres and increasing its total portfolio to 123 easements over 696,921 acres at the end of fiscal year 2025. While the easement donations represent value to the grantors based upon the appraised value of the development rights foregone through the conservation easements (which form the basis of their charitable tax deductions), the easements have no real financial or marketable value once they are donated to the land trust. The combined value of the non-cash conservation easement contributions granted to nmlc for the year ended june 30, 2025 was 1,575,000, as compared to 1,575,000 for the year ended june 30, 2024. Nmlc completed 2 conservation easements in 2024 (hermosa-kelsey and gibson ranch), with an additional acreage amendment to an existing conservation easement for ute lake ranch, protecting 4,273 acres and increasing its total portfolio to 123 easements over 696,921 acres at the end of fiscal year 2025. While the easement donations represent value to the grantors based upon the appraised value of the development rights foregone through the conservation easements (which form the basis of their charitable tax deductions), the easements have no real financial or marketable value once they are donated to the land trust. The combined value of the non-cash conservation easement contributions granted to nmlc for the year ended june 30, 2025 was 1,575,000, as compared to 1,575,000 for the year ended june 30, 2024. Conservation easement acquisition funding agreements in certain circumstances, nmlc will enter into agreements with governmental entities as a cooperating/sponsorship organization to facilitate the governmental entity or entities participation in acquisition of conservation easements. Upon closing a conservation easement acquisition, where land title is passed through nmlc, nmlc will record revenue and an equal conservation easement acquisition expenditure for amounts that nmlc has passed through the landowner.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 90% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
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.

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
061648104
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Headquarters
Santa Fe, NM, USA
Phone
5059863801
Rating
88
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Professional Societies & Associations

Official website

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: 87
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 95
  • Sustainability: 37
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 98.4%; rating input score 98
  • Program expense ratio: 94.3%; rating input score 94
  • Fundraising efficiency: $3.55 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 11; 11th 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: Limited
  • 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 8 controls in place; rating input score 88
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • 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: -4.3%; rating input score 21; 21st percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.81; rating input score 30; 30th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.01; rating input score 86; 86th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 3%; rating input score 69; 69th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 17% per year; rating input score 100; 81st percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 14.8% per year; rating input score 100; 81st percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 6.8% per year; rating input score 100; 43rd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 98.4% of revenue deployed · 94.3% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 7 of 7 board members independent · 7 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $4.2M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $133K · 8 people listed
  • Highest-paid contractors: 1 contractor listed · $115K reported
  • Consistency: 30 of 30 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 15 annual filings from 2010 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • 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.

Leadership & pay

8 people listed

Highest reported compensation

  • JONATHAN HAYDEN (EXECUTIVE DI): $132,591 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: FY2024.