Driftless Area Land Conservancy Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
392017802
IRS 990 coverage
2012–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2011
Location
Dodgeville, WI, USA
Phone
6089303252
Rating
73
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Water Resource, Wetlands Conservation and Management

Reported finances

Revenue
$5,075,153
Expenses
$1,245,954
Assets
$13,343,572
Liabilities
$534,201

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

Leadership & pay

13 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • JENNIFER FILIPIAK (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)
  • DANNI LANG (PRESIDENT)
  • LAUREN ROSENTHAL (VICE PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • JENNIFER FILIPIAK (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $108,011 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Maintain and enhance the health, diversity and beauty of southwest Wisconsin's natural and agricultural landscape through permanent land protection and restoration and improve people's lives by connecting them to the land and each other.

What it reported doing in 2025

Advocacy - the conservancy's advocacy efforts focus on policies and programs that support the long-term protection of natural, historical, and culture resources of southwest Wisconsin's driftless area. In 2025, the conservancy ended its fight to oppose a massive and unneeded transmission line project. The transmission line is installed and operating, but we won many of the legal challenges we brought along the way and shed a light on processes for environmental review and permitting that were largely not transparent to the public before. In 2025, we continued to advocate for the knowles nelson stewardship fund which supports land conservation throughout Wisconsin.

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 94% 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 - 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 filed totals do not add up.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 42
  • Transparency & Controls: 89
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 83
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 19.6%; rating input score 20
  • Program expense ratio: 69.4%; rating input score 69
  • Fundraising efficiency: $30.81 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 70; 70th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 93.8%; rating input score 94; 21st percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 94.3%; rating input score 94; 34th 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: 8 of 8 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: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 75.4%; rating input score 96; 96th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 10.71; rating input score 89; 89th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.04; rating input score 63; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 8.7%; rating input score 38; 38th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 12.5% per year; rating input score 100; 69th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 17.2% per year; rating input score 100; 83rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 21.1% per year; rating input score 100; 85th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 19.6% of revenue deployed · 69.4% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 11 of 11 board members independent · 8 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $865K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $108K · 13 people listed
  • Consistency: 34 of 35 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
  • Filing history: 14 filing years from 2012 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 3 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 1 filed related-organization link
  • 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 — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 20/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 38/100.