Friends of Freeland Foundation

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
980616750
IRS 990 coverage
2019–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2018
Location
Green Lake, WI, USA
Phone
9202292156
Rating
72
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Wildlife Preservation, Protection

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$637,798
Expenses
$555,477
Assets
$99,227
Liabilities
$10,000

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

Leadership & pay

7 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • STEVE GALSTER (PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • STEVE GALSTER (PRESIDENT): $108,330 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

To help governments and civil society worldwide protect wildlife, ecosystems and people from trafficking, and to build ecosystems and communities that are resilient to trafficking through capacity building, networking, and education. The organization's mission is to protect people, wildlife and ecosystems from trafficking and to restore healthy ecosystems and communities. We do this by raising money and technical support in the us for our teams and partners in asia, africa and latin america to form, train and network counter-trafficking task forces.

What it reported doing in 2024

To help governments and civil society worldwide protect wildlife, ecosystems and people from trafficking, and to build ecosystems and communities that are resilient to trafficking and pandemics through capacity building, networking, and education.the organization aims to achieve its mission by raising funds and technical support in the us to help its teams in asia, latin america and africa form, train and network task forces to counter wildlife and human trafficking.

Operating model

Revenue model
Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
Distribution model
Grant intermediary. The nonprofit sent 77% of its reported program spending out as grants.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. The filing does not identify recipients for some grant dollars and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 70
  • Transparency & Controls: 73
  • Accountability: 76
  • Sustainability: 41
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 74.5%; rating input score 75
  • Program expense ratio: 85.6%; rating input score 86
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: 3 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 38
    • Claims monitoring procedures: Pass
    • Requires narrative reports: Limited
    • Conducts field audits: Pass
    • May suspend future funding: Limited
    • Requires financial reports: Pass
    • Conducts site visits: Limited
    • Requires grant agreements: Limited
    • May require repayment: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 50%; rating input score 50; 29th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 85.7%; rating input score 86; 20th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 5 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 62
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Fail
    • 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: 12.9%; rating input score 67; 67th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.18; rating input score 8; 8th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.1; rating input score 42; 42nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 19.5%; rating input score 15; 15th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 4.8% per year; rating input score 100; 41st percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 15.5% per year; rating input score 100; 79th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 8.1% per year; rating input score 100; 52nd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 74.5% of revenue deployed · 85.6% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 6 of 7 board members independent · 5 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $475K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $108K · 7 people listed
  • Consistency: 26 of 26 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors and foreign activity
  • Filing history: 5 filing years from 2019 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.

  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Grant itemization coverage scored 50/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 8/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 15/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 42/100.