Centre for Wildlife Studies Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
843990793
IRS 990 coverage
2022–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-N 2020
Location
Bethesda, MD, USA
Phone
7324853515
Rating
68
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Wildlife Preservation, Protection

Reported finances

Revenue
$837,043
Expenses
$540,894
Assets
$1,168,999
Liabilities
$9,600

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

Leadership & pay

6 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Sriram Raghavan (President)

People named in this filing

  • Sriram Raghavan (President)
  • Sumana Shashidhar (Secretary)
  • Ajit Thyagarajan (Treasurer)

Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.

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

Overview

Mission

CWS, Inc., raises funds primarily in North America from individual, private, and government sources and finances wildlife conservation and related projects in the wildlife habitat areas across the globe, including financing any related projects that may be outside the habitats, as well as projects of indirect benefit to the wildlife

What it reported doing in 2024

CWS, Inc., finances wildlife conservation and related projects in the wildlife habitat areas across the globe, principally by partnering with NGOs active in a given habitat. Additionally, CWS, Inc., may partner with other global conservation organizations outside the habitat that have specific expertise or technologies, e.g., for forest monitoring using modern technology. CWS, Inc., also directly pays vendors for specific services relevant to its mission. Finally, CWS, Inc., undertakes directly, or in participation with local organizations, projects of indirect benefit to the wildlife such as medical and social care assistance to foster goodwill of the impoverished rural human population resident in and near the wildlife habitat. The program activities are affected to the extent the level of fundraising is expected to vary from year to year due to economic and social conditions.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 64% 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 revenue comfortably covers expenses. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and the filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 79
  • Transparency & Controls: 58
  • Accountability: 58
  • Sustainability: 78
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 65%; rating input score 65
  • Program expense ratio: 97.6%; rating input score 98
  • Fundraising efficiency: $198.31 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 92; 92nd 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: 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: 0 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 0
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Fail
    • Audit committee oversight: Fail
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 35.4%; rating input score 87; 87th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.16; rating input score 67; 67th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.01; rating input score 70; 70th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 81; 81st percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -6.7% per year; rating input score 0; 6th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 20.4% per year; rating input score 100; 86th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 29.9% per year; rating input score 100; 91st percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 65% of revenue deployed · 97.6% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 6 of 6 board members independent · 0 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $528K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 6 people listed
  • Consistency: 17 of 18 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors and foreign activity
  • Filing history: 3 filing years from 2022 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: Resolved incoming and outgoing counterparties from filed money flows.
  • 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 — Accountability: Governance controls: 7 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight scored 0/100.
  • High — Transparency & Controls: Grant itemization coverage scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.