Friends of the Front Range Wildlife Refuges
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 261366954
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2018–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2021
- Location
- Commerce City, CO, USA
- Phone
- 7206683887
- Rating
- 83
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Parks and Playgrounds
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $493,884
- Expenses
- $442,831
- Assets
- $165,675
- Liabilities
- $353
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
12 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- LORETTA PINEDA (PRESIDENT)
Highest reported compensation
- VANESSA THURK (EXECUTIVE DI): $55,110 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 support the rocky mountain arsenal national wildlife refuge and rocky flats national wildlife refuge, to conserve native wildlife, and to provide opportunities for the public to experience nature near a major urban area.
What it reported doing in 2024
Listening to the community: this grant funded work for several consultants and the generation wild nemc youth council to learn about the community perceptions of the rocky mountain arsenal national wildlife refuge and their expectations. Work included a demographic report, extensive focus groups and interviews with neighbors, and a report on what the communities want and need from the refuge. Many of the recommendations were implemented, including bi-lingual signage, cultural training, and continued outreach into the neighborhoods as well as a gap analysis to explore the current relationship of the refuge and our neighbors and, in particular, to identify barriers. We are continuing work to make the refuge more welcoming, reflecting the diversity of the adjacent neighborhoods.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Grant-funded. 67% of the money available for current operations came from government grants.
- 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
STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 89
- Transparency & Controls: 92
- Accountability: 69
- Sustainability: 44
- Growth: 80
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
- Program expense ratio: 83.6%; rating input score 84
- Fundraising efficiency: $13.61 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 48; 48th 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: 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; 63rd 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: 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: 10.3%; rating input score 61; 61st percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.37; rating input score 19; 19th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 54; 54th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 12.4%; rating input score 27; 27th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 16.2% per year; rating input score 100; 80th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 30.2% per year; rating input score 100; 93rd percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: -8.6% per year; rating input score 0; 7th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 83.6% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 11 of 11 board members independent · 2 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $370K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $55K · 12 people listed
- Consistency: 26 of 26 current checks pass
- Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 4 filing years from 2018 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
- 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: Governance controls: 5 of 7 not reported.
- Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 48/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 19/100.
- High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 27/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 54/100.