Betty Ford Alpine Gardens
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 742395097
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2012–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Vail, CO, USA
- Phone
- 9704760103
- Rating
- 77
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Standard
- Sector
- Botanical Gardens, Arboreta and Botanical Organizations
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $1,810,170
- Expenses
- $1,947,402
- Assets
- $9,556,687
- Liabilities
- $177,398
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
15 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Nicola Ripley (Executive Director)
- Susan Frampton (President)
- June Rossetti (Vice President)
Highest reported compensation
- Nicola Ripley (Executive Director): $197,204 total reported compensation
- Melissa Ebone (VP of Development): $120,866 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
To protect the alpine environment through education, conservation and living plant collections.
What it reported doing in 2024
Construction and maintenance of betty ford alpine gardens and public education relating to high altitude plants and the environment. The gardens host 100,000 visitors each year without charging an admission fee. The gardens is a nationally renowned botanic garden with special designations and awards from the north american plant collection consortium and the american public gardens association. The gardens coauthored the first alpine plant conservation plan created in response to climate change concerns. 1,200 children participate in the gardens environmental stewardship programs. The gardens also provide rare plant monitoring expertise and research services to state and federal environmental agencies.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 64% 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
SUPPORTED - 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: 75
- Transparency & Controls: 71
- Accountability: 91
- Sustainability: 44
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 92.1%; rating input score 92
- Program expense ratio: 69.3%; rating input score 69
- Fundraising efficiency: $3.87 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 12; 12th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 84.6%; rating input score 85; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 2 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 33
- Compensation committee: Pass
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
- Written employment contract: Missing
- Compensation survey or study: Missing
- 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: 92.9%; rating input score 93; 24th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 8 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 89
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: Pass
- 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: -7.6%; rating input score 20; 20th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 4.91; rating input score 84; 84th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.02; rating input score 63; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 16.3%; rating input score 20; 20th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 7.3% per year; rating input score 100; 53rd percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 0.8% per year; rating input score 100; 18th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 7% per year; rating input score 100; 47th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 92.1% of revenue deployed · 69.3% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 13 of 14 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $1.3M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $197K · 15 people listed · 2 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Consistency: 27 of 28 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
- Filing history: 13 filing years from 2012 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 2 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.
- High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 12/100.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 20/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Other executive compensation review process not reported.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 20/100.