Coldharbour Institute
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 421608661
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2011–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2014
- Location
- Gunnison, CO, USA
- Phone
- 5099990012
- Rating
- 88
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Energy Resources Conservation and Development
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $399,222
- Expenses
- $404,344
- Assets
- $1,691,855
- Liabilities
- $21,051
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
11 people listed
People named in this filing
- BUTCH CLARK (FOUNDER)
- TRACE BROOKS (BOARD CHAIR)
- CHRIS NUTGRASS (BOARD VICE-CHAIR)
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 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Coldharbour institute advances regenerative practices to improve the health of working agricultural lands and watersheds through education, research, and applied practices.
What it reported doing in 2025
The largest accomplishments are as follows: 1) provided educational workshops and training in solar energy installation, regenerative agriculture and watershed restoration for 618 program participants in classes as well as an estimated 2185 additional people benefited from the extended programming at conferences and community events. Also, the organization held the first ever coldharbour youth summit.2) advanced a wide array of land based projects that restored 74 acres of wetlands, developed a business plan for a native plant nursery which will be applied to local restoration projects and continued research on methods to use biochar to improve soil health.3) continued solar projects regarding repurposeing solar panels to provide solar equipment for households with the greatest needs for example: built three reuse-based solar arrays for needs-based homeowners in gunnison in partnership with a local solar business. Delivered national training with various universities and organizations and also delivered reliability research via various workshops both in conjunction with the national renewable energy laboratory.
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 95% 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 expenses are high relative to revenue.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 91
- Transparency & Controls: 94
- Accountability: 82
- Sustainability: 50
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 94.6%; rating input score 95
- Program expense ratio: 93.3%; rating input score 93
- Fundraising efficiency: $27.24 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 62; 62nd 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: 100%; rating input score 100; 81st 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: 4 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 57
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Missing
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -1.3%; rating input score 32; 32nd percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 4.18; rating input score 76; 76th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.01; rating input score 38; 38th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 67; 67th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 6.9% per year; rating input score 100; 58th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 1.5% per year; rating input score 100; 27th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 15.6% per year; rating input score 100; 76th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 94.6% of revenue deployed · 93.3% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 13 of 13 board members independent · 4 of 7 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $377K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 11 people listed
- Consistency: 29 of 29 current checks pass
- Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
- Filing history: 9 filing years from 2011 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
- Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
- 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.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 6 not reported.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 32/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 38/100.