Dogwood Alliance Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
562139120
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Asheville, NC, USA
Phone
8282512525
Rating
79
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Standard
Sector
Alliance/Advocacy Organizations

Reported finances

Revenue
$2,529,471
Expenses
$3,290,930
Assets
$5,113,453
Liabilities
$134,523

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

Leadership & pay

21 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Margaret Danna Smith (Executive Director)

Highest reported compensation

  • Margaret Danna Smith (Executive Director): $174,821 total reported compensation
  • Stephanie Powell (Director of Finance & Operations): $130,068 total reported compensation
  • Krystal Nicole Martin (Board Member): $23,296 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Dogwood Alliance advances environmental justice and climate action by mobilizing diverse voices to protect southern forests and communities from industrial logging.

What it reported doing in 2025

Conservation: Our work to proactively protect forests through establishing community-owned forests has been focused in the Pee Dee Watershed of South Carolina. Against the backdrop of a culture that has largely accepted the working forest conservation and economic model, Dogwood Alliance and our local partners are charting a new course that puts community-led forest protection at the center of our conservation and rural economic development agenda. This work gained significant momentum in 2024 with two new community forests in South Carolina secured and in process for Conservation easements and ongoing conservation plans. One additional community forest is ready to be acquired in South Carolina and funded through the Justice Conservation Fund. Potential community forest partners in North Carolina were contacted, and relationships were established. In 2025, Dogwood Alliance and New Alpha Community Development Corporation celebrated the opening of Freedom Land Community Forest, a 305-acre former slave plantation in Marion County, SC, now reclaimed as a community-owned space for healing, recreation, and ecological restoration. As Dogwoods second justice-centered community conservation project, Freedom Land reflects a powerful model for land return and nature-based climate solutions. The emotional ribbon cutting marked a significant milestone in advancing community-led forest protection and environmental justice across the South. In 2025 Dogwood Alliance developed the structure for a new conservation fund, Justice Conservation Fund, in partnership with New Alpha Development Corporation. The Funds purpose is to support additional community forest acquisitions in areas impacted by biomass and industrial logging. Dogwood signed an MOU with New Alpha outlining roles, funding criteria, and processes. While New Alpha CDC manages the financial accounting, the project is a partnership effort between Dogwood and New Alpha. The partnership resulted in $1 million of seed funding.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 91% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 91% 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

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Few specific pay-setting methods are documented in the filing; unanswered boxes are not proof of absence and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 79
  • Transparency & Controls: 69
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 28
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 93.5%; rating input score 94
  • Program expense ratio: 71.5%; rating input score 72
  • Fundraising efficiency: $6.49 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 21; 21st percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 92.3%; rating input score 92; 11th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 0 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 0
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Missing
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 89.3%; rating input score 89; 31st 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; 63rd 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: -30.1%; rating input score 3; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.55; rating input score 49; 49th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.03; rating input score 69; 69th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 10%; rating input score 33; 33rd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 11.8% per year; rating input score 100; 66th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 9.9% per year; rating input score 100; 65th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 13.2% per year; rating input score 100; 69th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 93.5% of revenue deployed · 71.5% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 19 of 19 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $2.4M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $175K · 21 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 32 of 33 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 16 filing years from 2010 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 15 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 12 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.

  • High — Transparency & Controls: Pay-setting controls scored 0/100.
  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 21/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 3/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 49/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 33/100.