Occidental Arts & Ecology Center

What it reported doing in 2024

Oaecs 2024 program accomplishments are mostly expressed through our many inter-related programs, projects and partnerships. A representative sample of this program work includes:1. The resilient community design / permaculture program,2. The water institute and beaver restoration project,3. The mother garden biodiversity program,4. The wildlands program,5. The movement building retreat program,6. The performing arts program,7. Oaecs partnership with dozens of social and environmental organizations and alliances around education, training, and advocacy campaigns, and8. Oaecs fiscally sponsored projects programeach of our programs, projects and partnerships use the same methods and strategies to achieve our public benefit mission, including:1. We model resiliency - oaec is a resiliency demonstration site, modeling dozens of practical personal and community-scale solutions to common challenges in the sustainable management of soil, water, food production, the restoration and preservation of biological and cultural diversity, and more effective ways to self-govern and manage economy. Oaecs programs benefit from our more than thirty years of experience in developing and caring for our own 80-acre site, as well as supporting hundreds of other land-based projects and organizations.2. We train changemakers - the transition to a just and environmentally sustainable economy will only be achieved if more individuals become ecologically literate changemakers. Oaec continues to develop workshops and advocacy campaigns that train, support and inspire individuals and social movement leaders to apply an ecological lens to their existing social change work.3. We help build the capacity of communities to transform toward resilience - oaec strives to achieve a "social change multiplier effect" by training and building the capacity of whole communities to become more effective agents of rapid change. We work to foster ecological literacy and to empower diverse communities - schools, local governments, public agencies, foundations, environmental and social justice organizations, farms and ranches, and policy coalitions - to design their own place-based strategies to create the just transition towards a more regenerative culture and economy.4. We work to change the rules of governance and economy - we work to legalize and require sustainable economy, and to make illegal and dis-incentivize activities that subvert it. Sometimes on our own, but most often through broader advocacy alliances, we seek to change policy in the arenas of governance in which we are most likely to succeed - a city or county council, school board, water agency, or state legislature or agency - on issues that are ripe for change and move us toward a just and sustainable future.

Financial Efficiency

• Mission deployment rate: 80.6%; rating input score 81
• Program expense ratio: 82%; rating input score 82
• Fundraising efficiency: $14.92 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 51; 51st 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: 8 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 100
  • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
  • Whistleblower policy: Pass
  • Document-retention policy: Pass
  • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
  • Other executive compensation review process: Pass
  • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
  • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
  • Audit committee oversight: Pass
  • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

• Operating margin: 2%; rating input score 41; 41st percentile among comparable filings
• Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.62; rating input score 54; 54th percentile among comparable filings
• Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.14; rating input score 51; 51st percentile among comparable filings
• Officer compensation ratio: 11.5%; rating input score 26; 26th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

• Program expense growth: 14.4% per year; rating input score 100; 76th percentile among comparable filings
• Revenue growth: 10.2% per year; rating input score 100; 69th percentile among comparable filings
• Asset growth: 13.8% per year; rating input score 100; 71st percentile among comparable filings