California Native Plant Society
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 946116403
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2014–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2023
- Location
- Sacramento, CA, USA
- Phone
- 9164472677
- Rating
- 76
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Natural Resources Conservation and Protection
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $9,459,830
- Expenses
- $9,464,294
- Assets
- $15,501,622
- Liabilities
- $969,157
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
17 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Vince Scheidt (Vice President)
- Vivian Neou (President)
Highest reported compensation
- Kathy Jun Bando (Executive Dir.): $185,713 total reported compensation
- Brock Wimberley (Sr Operations Dir): $184,090 total reported compensation
- Liv R O'Keeffe (Dir Public Affairs): $173,336 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 Californias native plants and their natural habitats, today and into the future, through science, education, stewardship, gardening, and advocacy
What it reported doing in 2024
Chapter SupportCNPS's 35 chapters are the face of the native plant movement in communities across California and Baja California, Mexico. This year, CNPS volunteers contributed 157,000 volunteer hours, the equivalent of 430 hours a day! CNPS staff support volunteer-led chapter work in a technical assistance capacity, ranging from plant science and CEQA-process training to communications and operational guidance. Staff hosts coordinating meetings, provides professional best practice guidelines, and oversees and provides training in technical platforms including websites, Zoom, email marketing, volunteer management tools, and online sales. Staff also updates an extensive online chapter handbook, directories, codes of conduct, and other administrative tools. Highlights of chapter activities this year include: volunteer contributions for vegetation mapping and rare plant work in Alameda and Contra Costa counties, the Central Coast, far Northern California, and the Caldor Fire burn area; a City of Ukiah grant to the CNPS Sanhedrin Chapter for native plants in public spaces; Sonoma County Board of Supervisors Gold Resolution award for the Milo Baker Chapters native plant restoration at Doran Regional Park in Bodega Bay; the Yerba Buena Chapters work to remove tens of thousands of invasive plants from Buckeye Canyon on San Bruno Mountain; distribution of more than 3,500 wildflower seed packets through the Santa Clara Valley Chapters Wildflower Ambassadors Program; removal of French broom at Lompico Headwaters in Santa Cruz County; the Alta Peak Chapters Tulare Lake lecture series; a grant to the Sequoia Chapter to establish native plant gardens with Fresno High Schools International Baccalaureate program; the discovery of a rare Arctostaphylos in San Luis Obispo; a $98,566 grant from the Orange County Chapter to the UC Irvine Herbarium to process plant vouchers and support publications with local plant identifications; a neighborhood-led restoration of Elephant Hill in El Sereno; and the Riverside-San Bernardino Chapters work to protect a 13,000 year-old Palmers oak, estimated to be one of the oldest living organisms on Earth. CNPS Chapters across Southern California were also on the frontlines of the Los Angeles wildfires, providing education and support for local residents.
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 95% 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.
- Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.
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: 76
- Transparency & Controls: 65
- Accountability: 95
- Sustainability: 43
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 85%; rating input score 85
- Program expense ratio: 79.7%; rating input score 80
- Fundraising efficiency: $6.01 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 22; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 86.7%; rating input score 87; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 1 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 17
- Compensation committee: Missing
- 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: 71.9%; rating input score 72; 19th percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 7 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 88
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
- 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: -0%; rating input score 33; 33rd percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.64; rating input score 55; 55th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.06; rating input score 67; 67th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 10.3%; rating input score 29; 29th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 16.7% per year; rating input score 100; 81st percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 12.8% per year; rating input score 100; 77th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 12.5% per year; rating input score 100; 67th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 85% of revenue deployed · 79.7% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 11 of 11 board members independent · 7 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 5 filed program accomplishments · $7.5M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $186K · 17 people listed · 1 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 4 contractors listed · $640K reported
- Consistency: 34 of 36 current checks pass · 2 findings to review
- Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
- Filing history: 11 filing years from 2014 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 9 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 3 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.
Key Signals
Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.
- High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 22/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 33/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Other executive compensation review process not reported.
- Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 55/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 29/100.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
- Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.