Department of Bioregion

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
854402939
IRS 990 coverage
2023–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Seattle, WA, USA
Phone
2066964099
Rating
81
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Natural Resources Conservation and Protection

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$695,862
Expenses
$485,678
Assets
$419,065
Liabilities
$50,195

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

Leadership & pay

4 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Brandon Letsinger (Executive Director)
  • ALEX DEVEITEO (PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • Brandon Letsinger (Executive Director): $76,155 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

The Department of Bioregion's mission is a "world of interconnected bioregions and bioregional movements". It does this by creating departments of bioregions around the world and, providing administrative support to bioregional organizing teams, bioregional movements, education about specific bioregions, and ways of regenerating that bioregion.

What it reported doing in 2024

During the 2024-2025 fiscal year, Regenerate Cascadia formalized its two core programs: Cascadia BioRegen, which supports place-based organizing and community capacity building across the bioregion, and Cascadia BioFi, which develops bioregional finance strategies and funding ecosystems aligned with community priorities. In partnership with the Design School for Regenerating Earth, Regenerate Cascadia hosted its second annual six-month Cascadia Learning Journey cohort, growing participation to over 100 people and hiring a dedicated cohort coordinator to strengthen onboarding, facilitation, and participant pathways into local organizing. In May 2025, the organization convened the inaugural Cascadia BioFi Conference in Seattle, a three-day gathering of over 300 land stewards, Indigenous leaders, funders, community organizers, and practitioners exploring bioregional approaches to regenerative finance. The conference established shared frameworks for trust-based giving, flow funding, and community-directed resource allocation. Building on these foundations, Regenerate Cascadia launched its Landscape Groups program and opened its flagship Landscape Hub Cultivator in October 2025, enrolling 10 landscape groups from across the Cascadia bioregion in a year-long pilot focused on bioregional mapping, team development, governance, and regeneration strategy.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 74% 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

STRONG - The filed numbers largely add up and a large share of available resources goes toward mission work. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 69
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 90
  • Sustainability: 58
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 60.3%; rating input score 60
  • Program expense ratio: 80.9%; rating input score 81
  • Fundraising efficiency: $48.63 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 77; 77th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd 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: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 6 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 75
    • 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: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 30.2%; rating input score 84; 84th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.86; rating input score 38; 38th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.12; rating input score 40; 40th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 15.7%; rating input score 22; 22nd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 36.8% per year; rating input score 100; 93rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 45.2% per year; rating input score 100; 96th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 52.8% per year; rating input score 100; 97th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 60.3% of revenue deployed · 80.9% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 3 of 3 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $393K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $76K · 4 people listed
  • Consistency: 27 of 27 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 2 filing years from 2023 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 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.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

Grant-readiness screening is separate from the live rating, not a measure of program quality. Review the source records before making a grant decision.

  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 38/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 22/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 40/100.
  • High — Grant Readiness: Automatic revocation: this organization had its federal tax-exempt status automatically revoked.