Forterra Nw
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 943112461
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2010–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Seattle, WA, USA
- Phone
- 2062925907
- Rating
- 81
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Land Resources Conservation
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $12,806,098
- Expenses
- $10,896,768
- Assets
- $45,479,506
- Liabilities
- $6,709,223
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
30 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- MICHELLE CONNOR (PRESIDENT & CEO)
Highest reported compensation
- RACHEL VALDEZ (CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER): $260,539 total reported compensation
- KRISTI ENGLAND (CHIEF GOV. & INNOVATION OFFICER): $259,286 total reported compensation
- DAVID LEON (VP, REAL ESTATE (THRU 12/24)): $246,237 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
See schedule o
What it reported doing in 2024
Conservation: forterra's landscape-scale approach ensures the conservation of critical lands for communities throughout the region. Forterra has conserved more than 280,240 acres of land since our founding in 1989. At any given time, we are working on dozens of projects to conserve lands for community, habitat and recreation. We know how to work quickly and decisively to ensure vital lands are not lost but we also know that some projects take time to get right. These include the 4,000-acre port gamble forest which took more than 10 years and deep community partnerships to complete and the acquisition of 145 acres of culturally significant land in central Washington for a planned tribal community. Some projects are small, but just as important, like camp kilworth which is one of the last undeveloped shoreline habitats in federal way, Washington. Small or large, these projects add up and contribute to a healthy environment and resilient communities. No matter the size of the project, forterra brings a purposeful, innovated and interconnected approach that delivers success for our region.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
- Distribution model
- Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 52% for direct work, and 48% for grants.
- Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.
The verdict
STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and reported officer compensation is a large share of total spending, which may reflect staffing concentration.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 70
- Transparency & Controls: 85
- Accountability: 97
- Sustainability: 68
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 68.9%; rating input score 69
- Program expense ratio: 79.8%; rating input score 80
- Fundraising efficiency: $13.14 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 46; 46th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 94.7%; rating input score 95; 24th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 4 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 67
- Compensation committee: Pass
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
- Written employment contract: Missing
- Compensation survey or study: Pass
- Board or committee approval: Pass
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: 99.8%; rating input score 100; 36th percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 95.2%; rating input score 95; 29th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 9 of 9 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: Pass
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 14.9%; rating input score 76; 76th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 4.17; rating input score 82; 82nd percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.15; rating input score 66; 66th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 16.7%; rating input score 6; 6th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 5.8% per year; rating input score 100; 48th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 2.5% per year; rating input score 100; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 3.1% per year; rating input score 100; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 68.9% of revenue deployed · 79.8% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 20 of 21 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $8.7M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $261K · 30 people listed · 4 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 2 contractors listed · $315K reported
- Consistency: 40 of 40 current checks pass
- Schedules: 11 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
- Filing history: 13 filing years from 2010 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 30 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 24 filed related-organization links
- 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.
- Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.
Key Signals
Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.
- Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 46/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 6/100.