Canyonlands Natural History Assoc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
870274120
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Moab, UT, USA
Phone
4352596003
Rating
93
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Environmental Education and Outdoor Survival Programs

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$7,516,714
Expenses
$4,995,507
Assets
$18,181,182
Liabilities
$214,379

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

Leadership & pay

11 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • SAM WAINER (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)

Highest reported compensation

  • SAM WAINER (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $145,475 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

See schedule o

What it reported doing in 2025

Usfsthe largest area of support for the forest service came in the way of housing. Cnha began the process of purchasing 4 tiny homes for the manti la sal national forest to be used for employee housing. We put down a deposit for all four houses. One house was completed and installed in 2025, and we made payments on framing houses number 2 & 3. Work on the three remaining tiny homes will be completed in 2026.cnha supported the forest service by providing interns from Utah state university to backfill staffing shortages. Interns assisted with a wide variety of work across numerous programs with multiple disciplines including recreation trail crews, wildlife and botany, cultural resource monitoring, and range management conducting vegetation surveys, spring restoration projects, and monitoring range conditions.trailhead improvements in bears ears national monument. The dry wash alcove trail and trailhead was recently created to provide an easily accessible trail within the bears ears national monument. This trailhead and site is the only front country cultural resource on usfs lands within benm and is the primary location the usfs directs users seeking a more front country and accessible experience in benm.

Operating model

Revenue model
Investment-supported. 67% of the money available for current operations came from recurring investment income.
Distribution model
Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 55% for direct work, and 45% for grants.

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.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 94
  • Transparency & Controls: 94
  • Accountability: 90
  • Sustainability: 79
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 85.4%; rating input score 85
  • Fundraising efficiency: $102.5 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 88; 88th 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: 100%; rating input score 100; 75th 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: 6 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 75
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Fail
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 33.5%; rating input score 84; 84th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 3.64; rating input score 75; 75th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.01; rating input score 77; 77th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 2.9%; rating input score 70; 70th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 9.6% per year; rating input score 100; 59th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 9.8% per year; rating input score 100; 65th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 13.6% per year; rating input score 100; 70th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 85.4% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 10 of 10 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $4.3M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $145K · 11 people listed
  • Consistency: 31 of 31 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
  • Filing history: 16 filing years from 2010 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 4 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.
  • 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.

  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 8 not reported.