Elephantvoices

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
263462274
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Mountain View, CA, USA
Phone
5712124699
Rating
69
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Research Institutes and/or Public Policy Analysis

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$380,732
Expenses
$325,935
Assets
$1,119,980
Liabilities
$0

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

Leadership & pay

4 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • PETTER GRANLI (PRESIDENT/CE)

Highest reported compensation

  • PETTER GRANLI (PRESIDENT/CE): $100,000 total reported compensation
  • JOYCE POOLE (SCIENTIFIC D): $100,000 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

To inspire wonder in the intelligence, complexity, and voices of elephants and to secure a kinder future for them through conservation, research, and sharing of knowledge.

What it reported doing in 2025

Education: continued to promote the elephant ethogram: a library of african elephant behavior via external media; maintained elephantvoices.org (started the process of developing a new and more modern version), fb.com/elephantvoices, instagram.com/elephantvoices and x.com/elephantvoices, linkedin.com/company/elephantvoices and communicated with those active on our social media; acted as scientific advisor for the development and filming of a pbs documentary about male elephant behavior; gave advice to other elephant documentaries; gave scores of interviews for news articles, tv segments and radio broadcasts; provided american museum of natural history with additional multimedia material for their traveling exhibit the secret world of elephants; advised and assisted students, reviewed scientific papers and wrote recommendations; communicated with international media about elephants and their behavior, conservation, and welfare.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 94% 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

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and program spending has grown recently. The filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad and the filing does not identify recipients for some grant dollars.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 84
  • Transparency & Controls: 55
  • Accountability: 54
  • Sustainability: 61
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 81.3%; rating input score 81
  • Program expense ratio: 93.5%; rating input score 94
  • Fundraising efficiency: $43.31 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 72; 72nd 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: Scored; rating input score 0
  • Grant itemization coverage: Scored; rating input score 0
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 75%; rating input score 75; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 2 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 25
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: Fail
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 14.4%; rating input score 64; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 3.44; rating input score 72; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 77; 77th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 61.4%; rating input score 2; 2nd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 0.5% per year; rating input score 100; 30th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 7% per year; rating input score 100; 58th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 0.2% per year; rating input score 100; 23rd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 81.3% of revenue deployed · 93.5% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 3 of 4 board members independent · 2 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $305K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $100K · 4 people listed
  • Consistency: 24 of 24 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors and foreign activity
  • Filing history: 15 filing years from 2010 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: Resolved incoming and outgoing counterparties from filed money flows.
  • 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: Foreign activity oversight scored 0/100.
  • High — Transparency & Controls: Grant itemization coverage scored 0/100.
  • High — Accountability: Governance controls: 5 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 2/100.