Chattooga Conservancy

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
582121969
IRS 990 coverage
2020–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2019
Location
Mountain Rest, SC, USA
Phone
8646479849
Rating
81
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Natural Resources Conservation and Protection

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$287,779
Expenses
$238,996
Assets
$1,843,450
Liabilities
$2,727

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

9 people listed

Highest reported compensation

  • NICOLE HAYLER (EXECUTIVE DI): $43,680 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 protect and restore the ecological integrity of the chattooga river watershed; to ensure the viability of native species and a healthy human environment; to empower communities to practice good land stewardship.

What it reported doing in 2025

We provide oversight of the us forest service's management of over 180,000 acres of national forest in sc, ga, and nc. We partered with the usfs to implement a pollution magagement plan for the riparian zone of a major chattooga river tributary. This project rehabilitated 8 campsites, closed 9 others, blocked and revegitated 4 illegal orv trails, and installed an educational kiosk with leave no trace principles. We monitored logging projects and federal actions impacting the watershed, informing the public about 9 federal actions through 5 digital newsletters and 15 social media posts. We continued partnering with usfs on a native river cane restoration project, involving nnis removal and target-species promotion across the 29 -acre site, while delivering 30 cane culms to cherokee artisans.

Operating model

Revenue model
Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 99% 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

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 73
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 79
  • Sustainability: 65
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 74.3%; rating input score 74
  • Program expense ratio: 80.9%; rating input score 81
  • Fundraising efficiency: $11.59 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 41; 41st percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • 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: 4 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 17%; rating input score 67; 67th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 7.71; rating input score 86; 86th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 49; 49th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 18.3%; rating input score 20; 20th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 7.9% per year; rating input score 100; 61st percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 12.4% per year; rating input score 100; 75th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 21.9% per year; rating input score 100; 85th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 74.3% of revenue deployed · 80.9% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 8 of 8 board members independent · 4 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $193K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $44K · 9 people listed
  • Consistency: 26 of 26 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 6 filing years from 2020 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 4 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.
  • Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 4 of 8 not reported.
  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 41/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 20/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 49/100.