Caura Futures Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
510541583
IRS 990 coverage
2019–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2023
Location
Berkeley, CA, USA
Phone
5102955118
Rating
73
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Land Resources Conservation

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$242,767
Expenses
$231,775
Assets
$114,380
Liabilities
$0

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

Leadership & pay

3 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Tarek Milleron (President, Treasurer)
  • Philip Desenne (Vice-President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Tarek Milleron (President, Treasurer): $25,531 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Caura Futures, Inc. exists for the purpose of forest ecosystem conservation and, to that end, support of indigenous culture, where "forest ecosystem" is defined as all biotic and abiotic components of a forested watershed, including all waterways and any habitat, such as savanna, surrounded by forest, and "indigenous culture" is defined as any cultural practice belonging to any aboriginal forest tribe.

What it reported doing in 2024

CULTURAL LIBRARY PROJECT. Caura Futures supported indigenous community access to cultural library archives in the Caura Basin in 2024. We funded travel and meetings aimed at increasing community usage of the cultural library. The project again supported detailed video documentation of the traditional craft of dugout canoe building. In Ecuador, we provided our mobile application for community access to cultural library archives, with a particular focus on reaching indigenous school children. In Ecuador, Caura Futures is working with members of several indigenous groups to facilitate efficient access to archives that they have been building for over two decades. The focus is on language revitalization and bolstering traditional ecological knowledge using audiovisual techniques and a wiki data storage system. We produced printed plus audio books designed by community members. These were printed for distribution We estimate that over 2,500 school children are involved in the program. Literacy in native languages among grade school children has improved markedly through project efforts.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 100% 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

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and most voting board members are independent. The filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad and the filing does not identify recipients for some grant dollars.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 83
  • Transparency & Controls: 55
  • Accountability: 79
  • Sustainability: 43
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 91.5%; rating input score 91
  • Program expense ratio: 95.8%; rating input score 96
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Scored; rating input score 0
  • Grant itemization coverage: Scored; rating input score 0
  • 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: 4 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • 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: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 4.5%; rating input score 50; 50th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.49; rating input score 24; 24th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 80; 80th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 11%; rating input score 28; 28th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 7.6% per year; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 10.3% per year; rating input score 100; 73rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 16.1% per year; rating input score 100; 79th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 91.5% of revenue deployed · 95.8% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 3 of 3 board members independent · 4 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $222K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $26K · 3 people listed
  • Consistency: 41 of 41 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors and foreign activity
  • Filing history: 2 filing years from 2019 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
  • 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 — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight scored 0/100.
  • High — Transparency & Controls: Grant itemization coverage scored 0/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 7 not reported.
  • Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 50/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 24/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 28/100.