Cayuga Lake Watershed Network
Legal name: Cayuga Lake Watershed Network Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 161556541
- IRS 990-EZ coverage
- 2010–2025
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2023, Form 990-EZ 2025
- Location
- Ithaca, NY, USA
- Phone
- 315-367-4805
- Rating
- 67
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Alliance/Advocacy Organizations
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $198,768
- Expenses
- $161,006
- Assets
- $222,550
- Liabilities
- $3,551
Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
12 people listed
People named in this filing
- DAVID O BROWN (DIRECTOR)
- CHARLIE CAPPELLINO (DIRECTOR)
- ERIC DEVIN (DIRECTOR)
Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.
Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
To protect and bolster the environmental and economic health of Cayuga Lake and its 870-square-mile watershed.
What it reported doing in 2025
Community education & stewardship programs: these programs build community engagement and stewardship for cayuga lake. Our community education & stewardship program activities included organizing and hosting free, public community conferences featuring expert presentations on issues relevant to the health of cayuga lake and its watershed (north and south ends); working with 15 volunteer groups to promote and support litter cleanups; educational activities to raise awareness about aquatic invasive species (ais) in our watershed and what individuals can do to stop the spread of ais, including hydrilla; hosting our lake friendly living (lfl) awareness month event; and promoting adoption of residential best practices through the lfl pledge program throughout the year, including "watershed living in a changing climate" content; and working with regional educators to develop new watershed education activities for classrooms and informal education settings.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 84% 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 - The filed numbers largely add up and program spending has grown recently. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and a relatively small share of total spending goes to programs.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 38
- Transparency & Controls: 100
- Sustainability: 65
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 35.3%; rating input score 35
- Program expense ratio: 42.4%; rating input score 42
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 19%; rating input score 70; 70th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.38; rating input score 69; 69th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.02; rating input score 34; 34th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 63; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 2.4% per year; rating input score 100; 36th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 3.8% per year; rating input score 100; 38th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 10% per year; rating input score 100; 59th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 5 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 2 operating locations identified
- Where the money goes: 35.3% of revenue deployed · 42.4% of spending went to programs
- Governance: Filed governance answers
- Accomplishments: 4 filed program accomplishments · $68K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 12 people listed
- Consistency: 8 of 8 current checks pass
- Schedules: 3 filed schedules
- Filing history: 12 filing years from 2010 to 2025
- 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.
- Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 35/100.
- Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Program expense ratio scored 42/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 34/100.