Big Sur Natural History Association

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
770019197
IRS 990-EZ coverage
2021–2025
Forms available
Form 990-EZ 2025
Location
Big Sur, CA, USA
Phone
8316672956
Rating
74
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate

Reported finances

Revenue
$88,255
Expenses
$44,980
Assets
$236,300
Liabilities
$0

Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

4 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Stephanie Lee (President)

People named in this filing

  • Stephanie Lee (President)
  • Wendy Burnett (Secretary/Treasurer)
  • Nadine Clark (Director)

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 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Natural history education

What it reported doing in 2025

Education/interpretation campfire programs; children's natural history education; Natural History Education Center; dissemination of educational materials and information for 3 State Parks and Los Padres National Forest. Support for Tribal Cultural Day.

Operating model

Revenue model
Other-operating. 90% of the money available for current operations came from other operating revenue.
Distribution model
Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 45% for direct work, and 55% for grants.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - The filed numbers largely add up and a large share of total spending goes to programs. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and reported officer compensation is a large share of total spending, which may reflect staffing concentration.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 64
  • Transparency & Controls: 82
  • Sustainability: 81
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 47.3%; rating input score 47
  • Program expense ratio: 92.8%; rating input score 93

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 51st percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Limited

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 49%; rating input score 90; 90th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 5.25; rating input score 84; 84th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 66; 66th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 56; 56th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 2% per year; rating input score 100; 53rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 16.8% per year; rating input score 100; 87th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 5.7% per year; rating input score 100; 59th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 47.3% of revenue deployed · 92.8% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: Filed governance answers
  • Accomplishments: 1 filed program accomplishment · $42K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 4 people listed
  • Consistency: 9 of 9 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 2 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 5 filing years from 2021 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • 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.

  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 47/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 56/100.