Arizona Land and Water Trust Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
866148507
IRS 990 coverage
2016–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Tucson, AZ, USA
Phone
5205778564
Rating
69
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Land Resources Conservation

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$1,315,719
Expenses
$995,236
Assets
$20,333,957
Liabilities
$106,016

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

Leadership & pay

18 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • DIANA FRESHWATER (PRESIDENT)
  • BEN BROPHY (VICE-PRESIDENT)
  • MICHAEL MCDONALD (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR (THROUGH 05/25))
  • CAMERON BECKER (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR (AS OF 05/25))

Highest reported compensation

  • MICHAEL MCDONALD (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR (THROUGH 05/25)): $155,865 total reported compensation
  • CAMERON BECKER (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR (AS OF 05/25)): $119,173 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Arizona land and water trust has been a trusted partner to ranchers and farmers of southern Arizona for over 40 years. The trust achieves its mission to protect land and water by working with private landowners (continued on schedule o)who are interested in voluntarily conserving their lands. The trust also works with public entities to develop local and community conservation plans and goals, and often serves as a bridge between public entities and private landowners. The trust is one of numerous conservation organizations qualified by state and federal regulations to accept conservation easements and charitable contributions.

What it reported doing in 2024

Arizona land and water trust continued to advance its protection of biologically sensitive areas and working landscapes throughout fy25, producing a number of outreach and education community workshops on land and water protection options, and providing technical assistance on conservation, land use and policy-related issues. The trust maintained the protection of its existing easements and properties and made further progress on protecting new lands. The trust continued its innovative water conservation efforts, saving millions of gallons of water for the environment to date, and expanded its focus into the area of resiliency efforts on lands already protected by the organization.(continued on schedule o)as of 9/30/25, Arizona land and water trust had protected nearly 72,000 acres to date with willing landowners and over 500,000 acres as a result of our policy work in land and water planning, habitat conservation and wildlife corridor mapping. Our conservation efforts and partnerships have leveraged upwards of $350,000,000 over the life of the organization for land and water conservation.during fiscal year 2025, Arizona land and water trust continued to advance its protection of biologically sensitive areas and working landscapes, acquiring another 233 acres of the at risk sopori watershed, as well as maintaining the protection of the trust's 40 conservation easements in partnership with those private, agricultural landowners.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 72% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
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.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - The filed numbers largely add up and most voting board members are independent. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and a relatively small share of total spending goes to programs.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 46
  • Transparency & Controls: 74
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 75
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 47.1%; rating input score 47
  • Program expense ratio: 55.4%; rating input score 55
  • Fundraising efficiency: $4.54 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 15; 15th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 2 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 33
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • 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: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 24.4%; rating input score 80; 80th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 20.43; rating input score 96; 96th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.01; rating input score 73; 73rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 27.6%; rating input score 8; 8th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 4.1% per year; rating input score 100; 37th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 7.3% per year; rating input score 100; 56th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 9.6% per year; rating input score 100; 57th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 47.1% of revenue deployed · 55.4% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 14 of 14 board members independent · 8 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $551K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $156K · 18 people listed · 2 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 37 of 37 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 9 filing years from 2016 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 4 filed money-flow records
  • 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.
  • Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.

Key Signals

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

  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 47/100.
  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Program expense ratio scored 55/100.
  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 15/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 8/100.