Collective Heritage Institute

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
850432731
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Santa Fe, NM, USA
Phone
5059860366
Rating
80
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Interdisciplinary Research

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$5,288,113
Expenses
$5,434,728
Assets
$1,788,481
Liabilities
$784,275

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

Leadership & pay

18 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • KENNY AUSUBEL (CO-FOUNDER & CEO)

Highest reported compensation

  • KENNY AUSUBEL (CO-FOUNDER & CEO): $246,198 total reported compensation
  • NINA SIMONS (CO-FOUNDER & VICE-CHAIR/SECRETARY): $214,770 total reported compensation
  • JEFFREY VASTERLING (VP OF FINANCE & ADMINISTRATION): $170,718 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

To disseminate environmental solutions to educate, inspire, and equip people toward effective action, to develop and spread model economic strategies that conserve biological and cultural diversity, and to promote understanding of the relationship between humans and nature.

What it reported doing in 2024

Bioneers conference - the bioneers "headwaters" conference is a pre-eminent leading-edge forum where social and scientific innovators focus on solutions inspired by nature and human ingenuity. Number of people served/affected/attending/etc.: a potential annual audience reach of 1.2 million through bioneers.org unique visitors, national bioneers conference attendees, local events and active social media engagement; estimated total regular reach of40 million via radio/tv; radio series built from conference content is broadcast on over 100 stations spanning 400 communities for a total of 437 stations. Video distributed via linktv and other broadcast methods. Tens of millions via conference video distributed via social media and youtube (approximately 300,000+ followers on all social platforms; video content on social platforms including youtube and facebook have received over 14,500,000 views). Monthly website traffic is at 3x historical averages, with an average of 100k visitors/month. The next annual bioneers conference is scheduled for march 2026.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 90% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 98% 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.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

The verdict

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. The filing does not identify recipients for some grant dollars and expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 92
  • Transparency & Controls: 65
  • Accountability: 88
  • Sustainability: 18
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 96%; rating input score 96
  • Program expense ratio: 93.4%; rating input score 93
  • Fundraising efficiency: $27.13 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 67; 67th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 93.8%; rating input score 94; 20th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 1 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 17
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 59.3%; rating input score 59; 17th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 80%; rating input score 80; 14th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 9 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 100
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: Pass
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -2.8%; rating input score 25; 25th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.33; rating input score 10; 10th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.44; rating input score 24; 24th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 25.8%; rating input score 8; 8th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 6% per year; rating input score 100; 45th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 2.3% per year; rating input score 100; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 4.3% per year; rating input score 100; 31st percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 96% of revenue deployed · 93.4% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 8 of 10 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 6 filed program accomplishments · $5.1M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $246K · 18 people listed · 1 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 1 contractor listed · $196K reported
  • Consistency: 36 of 37 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 14 filing years from 2010 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 13 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 4 filed related-organization links
  • 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 — Transparency & Controls: Grant itemization coverage scored 59/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 25/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 10/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 8/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 24/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.