Conservation Florida Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
593613021
IRS 990 coverage
2013–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Orlando, FL, USA
Phone
3523764770
Rating
74
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Land Resources Conservation

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$11,503,770
Expenses
$3,644,046
Assets
$25,215,138
Liabilities
$726,127

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

Leadership & pay

16 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • TRACI DEEN (CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER)

Highest reported compensation

  • TRACI DEEN (CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER): $186,841 total reported compensation
  • Chelsea Wisner (Director of Land Protection): $102,772 total reported compensation
  • Sarah Shepard (Director of Communications): $102,070 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Conservation Florida's mission is to permanently protect Florida's water, wildlife, and wild places - the places that make Florida home.

What it reported doing in 2025

Advocacy, Education, Outreach: Our education, events, and advocacy efforts are aimed at supporting our mission to protect the Sunshine State's water, wildlife, and wild places - the places that make Florida home. Conservation Florida provides a wide array of opportunities for Floridians to develop a love for the land and to protect the land that protects them. Our goal is to meet people where they are in their communities. In 2025, this included educational programming across the state, guided hikes, volunteer and trail building days at our public preserve, and Conservation on Tap gatherings that bring communities together to learn about our mission and land protection work. These hands-on experiences bring people closer to the wild places that make Florida, Florida. In addition, we continue to prioritize collaboration with partners across Florida to strengthen land conservation statewide. Our team advocates for meaningful, consistent conservation funding at the local and state levels, engaging directly with policymakers to promote the importance of protecting Florida's natural heritage.

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 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 - The filed numbers largely add up and most voting board members are independent. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 56
  • Transparency & Controls: 79
  • Accountability: 95
  • Sustainability: 81
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 30%; rating input score 30
  • Program expense ratio: 89.7%; rating input score 90
  • Fundraising efficiency: $115.81 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 86; 86th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 2 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 33
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 76th 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: 7 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 88
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Fail
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 68.3%; rating input score 95; 95th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 6.92; rating input score 82; 82nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.03; rating input score 83; 83rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 10.7%; rating input score 21; 21st percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 23% per year; rating input score 100; 90th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 21.1% per year; rating input score 100; 92nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 24.6% per year; rating input score 100; 94th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 30% of revenue deployed · 89.7% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 12 of 12 board members independent · 7 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $3.3M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $187K · 16 people listed · 2 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 38 of 38 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 12 filing years from 2013 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 3 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.

  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 30/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Audit committee oversight not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 21/100.