Blue Forest Finance Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
831666979
IRS 990 coverage
2019–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Sacramento, CA, USA
Phone
2022711548
Rating
80
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Natural Resources Conservation and Protection

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$8,932,160
Expenses
$8,990,905
Assets
$35,190,546
Liabilities
$29,861,439

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

Leadership & pay

14 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • ZACHARY KNIGHT (CEO & PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • ZACHARY KNIGHT (CEO & PRESIDENT): $231,178 total reported compensation
  • GORDON VERMEER (CFO & TREASURER): $215,950 total reported compensation
  • PHILIP SAKSA (CHIEF SCIENTIST): $212,430 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Blue forest is a non-profit conservation finance organization. We bring people, finance and science together to restore and protect our forests, watersheds, ecosystems and communities.

What it reported doing in 2024

Communications, outreach, & education - involves activities to produce and disseminate materials and information about our innovative finance models and the multiple benefits of ecosystem conservation and restoration generally. Our stakeholder and public outreach and education expands knowledge of our projects while promoting them as emerging and effective models that are applicable and replicable to many landscapes and ecosystem situations in need of large-scale management and restoration, while also advancing the field of conservation finance broadly. 2024 impacts included features in leading impact investing publications, inclusion in the revenues for nature database, winner of the forest service regional partnership of the year, achieving coin cdfi certification, and being named as a keeling curve prize laureate.

Operating model

Revenue model
Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 81% 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. Expenses are high relative to revenue and some related-organization disclosures are missing.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 79
  • Transparency & Controls: 87
  • Accountability: 78
  • Sustainability: 40
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 82.1%; rating input score 82
  • Program expense ratio: 77.6%; rating input score 78
  • Fundraising efficiency: $25.79 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 66; 66th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 4 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 67
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Scored; rating input score 0

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 71.4%; rating input score 71; 12th 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: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • 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: -0.7%; rating input score 30; 30th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 3.91; rating input score 79; 79th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.85; rating input score 9; 9th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 18.4%; rating input score 14; 14th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 42.8% per year; rating input score 100; 96th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 36.1% per year; rating input score 100; 96th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 43% per year; rating input score 100; 97th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 82.1% of revenue deployed · 77.6% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 5 of 7 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $7M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $231K · 14 people listed · 4 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 2 contractors listed · $436K reported
  • Consistency: 32 of 32 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, executive pay, and related organizations
  • Filing history: 5 filing years from 2019 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 12 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 16 filed related-organization links
  • 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 — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 30/100.
  • High — Transparency & Controls: Related-party transparency scored 0/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Document-retention policy not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 9/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 14/100.