Dolores River Boating Advocates

What it reported doing in 2024

General: Dolores River Boating Advocates (DRBA) envisions permanent protections and conservation for the Dolores River and surrounding landscape that support recreation, equitable access, healthy flows, and resilient habitat for the benefit of the diverse human and ecological communities that depend on and value the Dolores now and into the future. DRBA is a small but mighty community-based organization with great big passion for the Dolores River and the canyon country that surrounds it. DRBA has a unique niche as a local conservation and whitewater boating advocacy group - we are the only group solely focused on the Dolores River landscape, and we are dedicated to working collaboratively toward lasting solutions. We help bring people together around complicated issues facing the Dolores River and we serve as a voice for the river. We educate the public and provide valuable recreational information to those rafting the Dolores River. Advocacy: Our advocacy work is focused on securing long-term protection for the Dolores River Canyon Country below McPhee Reservoir, and guarding against potential damaging development proposals related to the river and adjacent public lands. -For many years we have worked with a myriad of local stakeholders on a National Conservation Area proposal for the southern portion of the Dolores River landscape and hoped that the bill would pass in 2024. We advocated for the bill alongside the Counties, the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, ranchers, water managers, recreationists, other conservation organizations, businesses, and other stakeholders. This bi-partisan legislation that would protect a portion of the lower Dolores River in Montezuma, Dolores, and San Miguel Counties, including 76 river miles and almost 70,000 acres, came very close to passing at the end of 2024, but unfortunately did not. We expect this bill to be reintroduced early in the next Congress in 2025. --Through our work with the Dolores River Coalition (which is made up of local, regional, and national conservation and recreation organizations that have an interest in protecting the Dolores River), in 2024 we were also heavily engaged in discussions about permanent protections for the Dolores River landscape in Mesa and Montrose Counties to the north of the existing NCA legislation. The monument proposal developed the year before was met with both support and concern. After both Colorado Senators visited the landscape and met with community members, the discussion pivoted to the consideration of an NCA in the north as well. --We served as the co-chair of the Native Fish Monitoring and Recommendation Team in 2024, which is a collaborative science-based group that works to benefit native fish and the river environment downstream of McPhee Reservoir. --We engaged Tribal perspectives, voices, and leadership in our advocacy work and protection campaigns. --In 2024, DRBA kicked off scoping for an ethnography project that works with a local anthropologist and regional Tribes/Pueblos/Nations with a connection to the Dolores River. The larger project funding was solidified, and initial planning and field visits occurred. The goal of this project is to integrate Tribal knowledge into future management of the Dolores River corridor. --DRBA consistently monitors activities to the Bureau of Land Management lands in the Dolores River Basin. In 2024, DRBA signed onto a letter with other organizations supporting the Resource Management Plan for the Uncompahgre Field Office and wrote a supportive letter to the Bureau of Land Management Tres Rios Field Office on their rule changes regarding recreation on the Dolores River. Stewardship and Partnerships: DRBA partners with both the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the US Forest Service on various on the ground projects that not only have positive effects for the river and recreational boating access but also connect volunteers to the landscape in meaningful ways. In 2024 we had the following accomplishment

Financial Efficiency

• Mission deployment rate: 72.4%; rating input score 72
• Program expense ratio: 81.5%; rating input score 82
• Fundraising efficiency: $14.97 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 50; 50th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

• Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th 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: 13.6%; rating input score 66; 66th percentile among comparable filings
• Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.08; rating input score 43; 43rd percentile among comparable filings
• Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.01; rating input score 47; 47th percentile among comparable filings
• Officer compensation ratio: 24.1%; rating input score 15; 15th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

• Program expense growth: 20% per year; rating input score 100; 84th percentile among comparable filings
• Revenue growth: 23.7% per year; rating input score 100; 90th percentile among comparable filings
• Asset growth: 24.5% per year; rating input score 100; 88th percentile among comparable filings