Blue Legacy International
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 460852847
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2013–2014
- Forms available
- Form 990 2014
- Location
- Washington, DC, USA
- Phone
- 2023503195
- Rating
- 80
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Standard
- Sector
- Water Resource, Wetlands Conservation and Management
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $458,402
- Expenses
- $503,666
- Assets
- $56,118
- Liabilities
- $33,949
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2014. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
4 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Alexandra Cousteau (President)
Highest reported compensation
- Alexandra Cousteau (President): $72,600 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2014. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
"Blue Legacys mission is to to empower people to reclaim and restore the worlds water, one community at a time. Through strategic collaborations, Blue Legacy infuses environmental science, technology, and exploration into digital media and storytelling assets to build public awareness of the interconnectivity and importance of local watersheds and global water resources, and to inspire more sustainable water management actions by business leaders, elected officials, communities, and citizens."
What it reported doing in 2014
Blue Legacy joined Sam Champion on his new Weather Channel program America's Morning Headquarters to retrace the flow of Colorado River and explore the intricate ties between sustainable water management, conservation, economic growth, and the weather that shapes this watershed and our future. This program used digital media and communications to raise awareness of critical water issues along the Colorado River and promote the Bi-national agreement to restore the flow of the Colorado River to reconnect it with the Sea of Cortez.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 75% 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. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 81
- Transparency & Controls: 100
- Accountability: 65
- Sustainability: 17
- Growth: 80
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 88.3%; rating input score 88
- Program expense ratio: 80.3%; rating input score 80
- Fundraising efficiency: $13.95 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 51; 51st percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: Limited
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: Limited
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 75%; rating input score 75; 18th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 4 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 50
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Fail
- CEO compensation review process: Pass
- Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Fail
- Audit committee oversight: Missing
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -9.9%; rating input score 21; 21st percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.11; rating input score 7; 7th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.6; rating input score 13; 13th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 14.4%; rating input score 28; 28th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 96.1% per year; rating input score 100; 97th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 68.6% per year; rating input score 100; 98th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: -103.8% per year; rating input score 0; 0th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 88.3% of revenue deployed · 80.3% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 3 of 4 board members independent · 4 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $405K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $73K · 4 people listed
- Consistency: 26 of 26 current checks pass
- Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 2 filing years from 2013 to 2014
- 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.
Grant-readiness screening is separate from the live rating, not a measure of program quality. Review the source records before making a grant decision.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 7 not reported.
- Review — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 51/100.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 21/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 7/100.
- High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 13/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 28/100.
- High — Grant Readiness: Automatic revocation: this organization had its federal tax-exempt status automatically revoked.