Expeditions in Education

Legal name: Expeditions in Education Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
851846134
IRS 990 coverage
2024–2025
Official website data refreshed
Jul 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2022, Form 990-N 2021
Location
Chicago, IL, USA
Phone
9198865171
Rating
70
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Environmental Education and Outdoor Survival Programs

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$481,314
Expenses
$446,015
Assets
$200,440
Liabilities
$23,509

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

Leadership & pay

10 people listed

Highest reported compensation

  • DACIA JONES (CHIEF EDUCAT): $49,100 total reported compensation
  • STEVE JONES (COO): $11,934 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Expeditions in Education is dedicated to growing good humans, sparking curiosity, and empowering students and educators to explore, connect with, and protect the natural world through immersive experiences in our national parks.

What it reported doing in 2025

We bring educators from around the country together to connect, collaborate, and create content. These five-day events happen each summer at different national park sites throughout the united states. Over 250 teachers attended steam in the park. Over 1.25 million students participated in virtual and in-school programs.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 84% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
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.
  • 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. A relatively small share of voting board members are independent and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 84
  • Transparency & Controls: 90
  • Accountability: 11
  • Sustainability: 37
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 91.9%; rating input score 92
  • Program expense ratio: 99.2%; rating input score 99
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

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: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 10%; rating input score 10; 17th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 1 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 12
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 7.3%; rating input score 52; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.45; rating input score 23; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.12; rating input score 21; 21st percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 13.7%; rating input score 24; 24th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 15.1% per year; rating input score 100; 77th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 26.3% per year; rating input score 100; 91st percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 27.3% per year; rating input score 100; 89th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 3 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 3 operating locations identified
  • Where the money goes: 91.9% of revenue deployed · 99.2% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 8 of 80 board members independent · 1 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $442K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $49K · 10 people listed
  • Consistency: 24 of 24 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 2 filing years from 2024 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
  • 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 — Accountability: Independent voting board scored 10/100.
  • High — Accountability: Governance controls: 6 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 23/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 52/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 21/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 24/100.