Collective Oyster Recycling & Restoration Foundation

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
921890360
IRS 990 coverage
2023–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Fairfield, CT, USA
Phone
2032466403
Rating
68
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Natural Resources Conservation and Protection

Reported finances

Revenue
$199,558
Expenses
$242,710
Assets
$122,473
Liabilities
$0

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

Leadership & pay

3 people listed

Highest reported compensation

  • TIM MACKLIN (DIRECTOR): $50,962 total reported compensation
  • TODD KOEHNKE (DIRECTOR): $45,908 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Works with local shellfish commissions and state environmental agencies to facilitate and maintain a statewide sustainable shell recycling network.

What it reported doing in 2025

Provide restaurants with tabletop shell pails and heavy-duty buckets used only for recycling shells. Collective oyster recycling & restoration officers collect shells for recycling and leave empty, sanitized buckets. The recycled shells are transported to the shell collection site where they are cured for a minimum of six months.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 63% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
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. A relatively small share of voting board members are independent and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 82
  • Transparency & Controls: 83
  • Accountability: 30
  • Sustainability: 22
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 90.8%; rating input score 91
  • Program expense ratio: 74.7%; rating input score 75
  • Fundraising efficiency: $25.75 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 61; 61st percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 88.9%; rating input score 89; 6th 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: 33.3%; rating input score 33; 18th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 2 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 25
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -21.6%; rating input score 11; 11th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.5; rating input score 25; 25th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 77; 77th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 39.9%; rating input score 6; 6th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 17.1% per year; rating input score 100; 80th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -0.4% per year; rating input score 0; 19th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 33.1% per year; rating input score 100; 91st percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 90.8% of revenue deployed · 74.7% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 1 of 3 board members independent · 2 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $181K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $51K · 3 people listed
  • Consistency: 18 of 19 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 3 filing years from 2023 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
  • 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.

  • Moderate — Accountability: Independent voting board scored 33/100.
  • High — Accountability: Governance controls: 5 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 11/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 25/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 6/100.