Center for Humans and Nature
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 431978884
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2020–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025
- Location
- Libertyville, IL, USA
- Phone
- 8473677330
- Rating
- 86
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Biological & Life Sciences
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $1,595,633
- Expenses
- $1,363,583
- Assets
- $11,000,860
- Liabilities
- $61,233
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
13 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- BROOKE HECHT PHD (PRESIDENT)
Highest reported compensation
- BROOKE HECHT PHD (PRESIDENT): $165,984 total reported compensation
- GAVIN VAN HORN PHD (EXEC. EDITOR, HUMANS & NATURE): $115,457 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
To explore and promote human responsibilities in relation to nature - the whole community of life. The center is home to a press and farm that explore in-depth and diverse perspectives about what it means to be human in an interconnected world.
What it reported doing in 2025
Humans & nature press amplifies voices critical to our collective future, providing print and digital platforms connecting readers with stories and ideas. The digital press offers poetry, essays, and artwork at no cost to readers, celebrating diverse sources of wisdom about what it means to be human in relationship with the whole community of life. Books offer in-depth explorations on the themes of human interconnection with nature and our responsibilities to the living world. Books published by the press are available to purchase through many independent bookstores and online platforms.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 74% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The filing allocates 85% 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
STRONG - 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 reported officer compensation is a large share of total spending, which may reflect staffing concentration.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 86
- Transparency & Controls: 79
- Accountability: 100
- Sustainability: 66
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
- Program expense ratio: 76.8%; rating input score 77
- Fundraising efficiency: $12.02 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 41; 41st percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 2 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 33
- Compensation committee: Missing
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
- Written employment contract: Missing
- Compensation survey or study: Pass
- Board or committee approval: Pass
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 78th 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; 64th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 8 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 100
- 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: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 14.5%; rating input score 64; 64th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 8.07; rating input score 90; 90th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.01; rating input score 64; 64th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 20.6%; rating input score 15; 15th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 5.8% per year; rating input score 100; 41st percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 4.6% per year; rating input score 100; 35th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 3.7% per year; rating input score 100; 30th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 76.8% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 12 of 12 board members independent · 8 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $1M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $166K · 13 people listed · 2 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Consistency: 33 of 34 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
- Filing history: 6 filing years from 2020 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
- 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: Fundraising efficiency scored 41/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 15/100.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.