Chattahoochee Valley Land Trust Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
582498676
IRS 990 coverage
2015–2017
Forms available
Form 990 2017
Location
Columbus, GA, USA
Phone
2564471066
Rating
77
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Land Resources Conservation

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$81,160
Expenses
$165,653
Assets
$0
Liabilities
$0

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2017. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

14 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • DAVID BLANCHARD (PRESIDENT)
  • KEN HENSON (VICE PRESIDENT)
  • KATHERINE EDDINS (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR/SECRETARY)

Highest reported compensation

  • KATHERINE EDDINS (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR/SECRETARY): $139,988 total reported compensation
  • HAL ROBINSON (PROGRAM DIRECTOR): $126,845 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2017. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

To work with landowners to help them protect their land, primarily through conservation easements.

What it reported doing in 2017

Stewardship program: monitoring and enforcement of easement terms to ensure compliance and protection of protection of conservation values. Protection program: working with land owners in our protection area to educate on the purpose of conservation easements and working with landowners and their advisors to protect land and conservation values, thereby increasing protected land for present and future generations. Fundraising program: working to build relationships within the community to increase donor support for the land trust and its mission.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 73% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
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 the filed numbers largely add up. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 77
  • Transparency & Controls: 90
  • Accountability: 84
  • Sustainability: 9
  • Growth: 40

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 62.4%; rating input score 62
  • Fundraising efficiency: $0.24 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 10; 10th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 5 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 62
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Fail
    • 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: -104.1%; rating input score 16; 16th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0; rating input score 2; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: Limited
  • Officer compensation ratio: 83.4%; rating input score 4; 4th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 12.1% per year; rating input score 100; 77th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -21.6% per year; rating input score 0; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -71.2% per year; rating input score 0; 2nd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 62.4% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 12 of 12 board members independent · 5 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $103K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $140K · 14 people listed
  • Consistency: 22 of 22 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 3 filing years from 2015 to 2017
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • Related organizations: 1 filed related-organization link
  • 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 — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 10/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 16/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 2/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 4/100.