Berkshire Bird Observatory
Legal name: Berkshire Bird Observatory Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 934916554
- IRS 990-EZ coverage
- 2024–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990-EZ 2024, Form 990-N 2023
- Location
- Great Barrington, MA, USA
- Phone
- 3302424544
- Rating
- 82
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Natural Resources Conservation and Protection
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $100,517
- Expenses
- $83,718
- Assets
- $16,899
Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
6 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- BENJAMIN MICHAEL NICKLEY (PRESIDENT &)
People named in this filing
- BENJAMIN MICHAEL NICKLEY (PRESIDENT &)
- GINA MINEO FOLEY (TREASURER)
- BENJAMIN BARRETT (SECRETARY)
Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.
Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
To advance the conservation of birds and their habitats through science, education, and community engagement.
What it reported doing in 2024
In this era of rapid environmental change, it is vital to keep a pulse on wildlife populations. We need to know which species are most impacted so we can set conservation priorities. Our focus is on birds. During spring and fall we capture birds migrating along the atlantic flyway and band them at our birding station at jug end state reservation. This allows us to monitor multiple populations at a single site. Our data shows when species pass through our area and in what numbersletting us determine trends over time. We share our data with our government and non-profit partners to maximize its conservation impact. Though data informs conservation efforts, working with wildlife up close provides us with unique opportunities to educate and enthrall. We welcome visitors to our banding station and leverage the wonder of a bird in the hand to inspire a love of birds and the habitats they depend on. Our banding station serves as a hub for field-based research, training, and education in our region. In the summer we participate in collaborative projects to help understand population dynamics of our local breeding birds. We also take direct action to help recover a declining species through our kestrel nest box project. Throughout the year we stay active in our community by giving talks and leading bird walks.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 99% 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.
The verdict
STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown and reported officer compensation is a large share of total spending, which may reflect staffing concentration.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 81
- Transparency & Controls: 100
- Sustainability: 38
- Growth: NotEnoughData
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 74.6%; rating input score 75
- Program expense ratio: 89.8%; rating input score 90
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 16.7%; rating input score 69; 69th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.2; rating input score 19; 19th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: Limited
- Officer compensation ratio: 76.1%; rating input score 1; 1st percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: Limited
- Revenue growth: Limited
- Asset growth: Limited
Details
- What they do: 9 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
- Where the money goes: 74.6% of revenue deployed · 89.8% of spending went to programs
- Governance: Filed governance answers
- Accomplishments: 1 filed program accomplishment · $75K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 6 people listed
- Consistency: 6 of 6 current checks pass
- Schedules: 3 filed schedules
- 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.
Key Signals
Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 19/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 1/100.