Cloud Ridge Naturalists
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 840919233
- IRS 990-EZ coverage
- 2022–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2020, Form 990-EZ 2024
- Location
- Ward, CO, USA
- Phone
- 3035890140
- Rating
- 45
- Verdict
- MIXED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Environmental Education and Outdoor Survival Programs
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $54,855
- Expenses
- $20,822
- Assets
- $244,418
- Liabilities
- $0
Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
6 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Audrey D Benedict (Founder & Executive Director)
People named in this filing
- Clyde Lovett (Director, Website Management and Special Projects)
- Audrey D Benedict (Founder & Executive Director)
- Wendy Shattil (Director, Photo Editor)
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 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Cloud Ridge Naturalists and Cloud Ridge Publishing focuses on science literacy through the creation of books and other visual media that emphasize natural history and inspire conservation stewardship. We underwrite and publish books independently and in cooperation with mainstream publishing houses, currently Sasquatch Books/Penguin Random House. We donate all royalties from Sasquatch Books for our 2 Salish Sea books to UC Davis' SeaDoc Society, a research and educational outreach nonprofit. Royalties from our 2 Rocky Mountain titles are deposited as income in our nonprofit's publishing account.
What it reported doing in 2024
Colorado Titles: A Naturalists Guide to the Southern Rockies: Colorado, Southern Wyoming, and Northern New Mexico (originally published by Sierra Club Books in 1991; printed and released again by Falcon Publishing in 2008; revised and re-printed from 2010 to present by Cloud Ridge Publishing). This 655 page natural history guide to the southern Rockies continues to be used by several universities as a required field biology textbook and remains the most popular regional guidebook for university students, nature lovers and national park visitors. Sold to universities and NPS at a 40% discount. ISBN-13:978-0-9845257-1-3 (pbk). Valley of the Dunes: Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve; author: Audrey DeLella Benedict. photographers: Bob Rozinski and Wendy Shattil. ISBN: 978-0-9845257-0-6 (Library of Congress). Originally published by Fulcrum Publishing in 2005 in (Golden, Colorado); revised edition published by Cloud Ridge Naturalists in 2010. Both books are contractually warehoused and catalog marketed by Mountain Press Publishing (Missoula, MT). Royalties from books sold and shipped by Mountain Press (less their warehouse storage and shipping costs) and books sold by us directly and delivered to the National Park Service and to regional universities are paid to Cloud Ridge Naturalists and deposited in our nonprofit's account.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 91% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- Distribution model
- Cannot be determined from the filing. The filing does not provide enough consistent spending detail to tell whether the nonprofit works directly or through others.
The verdict
MIXED - The filed numbers largely add up and revenue comfortably covers expenses. 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: 0
- Transparency & Controls: 100
- Sustainability: 86
- Growth: 20
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 0%; rating input score 0
- Program expense ratio: 0%; rating input score 0
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: 62%; rating input score 94; 94th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 11.74; rating input score 93; 93rd percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 68; 68th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 56; 56th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: -131.3% per year; rating input score 0; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: -14.5% per year; rating input score 0; 19th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 20.2% per year; rating input score 100; 86th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 0% of revenue deployed · 0% of spending went to programs
- Governance: Filed governance answers
- Accomplishments: 3 filed program accomplishments
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 6 people listed
- Consistency: 8 of 9 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 3 filed schedules
- Filing history: 3 filing years from 2022 to 2024
- 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.
- High — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 0/100.
- High — Financial Efficiency: Program expense ratio scored 0/100.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Part III transfer expenses within program total did not reconcile in the filed values.
- High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
- High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 56/100.