Flora of North America Association

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
431764020
IRS 990 coverage
2012–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2011
Location
Point Arena, CA, USA
Phone
7076840277
Rating
56
Verdict
MIXED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Human Service Organizations

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$55,660
Expenses
$20,163
Assets
$73,252
Liabilities
$36,073

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

27 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Dr Nancy Morin (Vice President)
  • Dr Geoffrey Levin (President)

People named in this filing

  • Dr Nancy Morin (Vice President)
  • Dr Barney Lipscomb (Treasurer)
  • Dr Alan Whittemore (Secretary)

Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Flora of North America coordinates a community of hundreds of botanists to produce a series of books and online content on the plants native or naturalized in North America north of Mexico, based on the best scientific knowledge available.

What it reported doing in 2024

Flora of North America Association completed Volume 13, published in June, and made good progress on the remaining four taxonomic volumes. Weve also completed parsing the content of Volumes 11 and 14, both of which soon will be online on our website. Parsing also began on Volume 13. Of the taxonomic volumes in preparation, most of Volumes 15, 16, and 18 have been edited and reviewed. Volume 29 is in late editing. Project members organized an all day session at the International Botanical Congress in Madrid to expedite the process.

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 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

MIXED - 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 a relatively small share of total spending goes to programs.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 26
  • Transparency & Controls: 84
  • Accountability: 88
  • Sustainability: 64
  • Growth: 0

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 11.6%; rating input score 12
  • Program expense ratio: 32%; rating input score 32
  • Fundraising efficiency: $50.08 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 82; 82nd percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 90%; rating input score 90; 13th 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; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 5 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 71
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • 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: 63.8%; rating input score 92; 92nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 3.63; rating input score 43; 43rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.49; rating input score 11; 11th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 60; 60th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -12.8% per year; rating input score 0; 25th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -7.7% per year; rating input score 0; 36th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -6% per year; rating input score 0; 19th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 11.6% of revenue deployed · 32% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 27 of 27 board members independent · 5 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $6K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 27 people listed
  • Consistency: 17 of 18 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 12 filing years from 2012 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • 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 12/100.
  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Program expense ratio scored 32/100.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 43/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 11/100.