Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
942781708
IRS 990 coverage
2009–2024
Official website data refreshed
Sep 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024
Location
San Francisco, CA, USA
Phone
4155613000
Rating
78
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Single Organization Support

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$54,673,377
Expenses
$49,967,950
Assets
$86,673,423
Liabilities
$12,860,289

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

Leadership & pay

42 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • MICHELE GEE (DEPUTY CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER)
  • CHRISTINE LEHNERTZ (CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER)
  • ROBERT LIEBER (VICE PRESIDENT INTERPRETIVE SALES)
  • DENNIS MABASA (VICE PRESIDENT, COMMUNITY AND YOUTH PROGRAM)
  • CLAIRE MOONEY (VICE PRESIDENT, PARK PLACES & INNOVATION)

Highest reported compensation

  • CHRISTINE LEHNERTZ (CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER): $569,730 total reported compensation
  • MICHELE GEE (DEPUTY CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER): $348,618 total reported compensation
  • JEN TRAHAN (CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER): $305,161 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 preserve the Golden Gate national parks, enhance the park visitor experience, and build a community dedicated to conserving the parks for the future. Since 1981, the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy (Parks Conservancy) has served as the nonprofit partner of the National Park Service, collaborating with the Presidio Trust, partners, donors, and the community to support the Golden Gate National Recreation Area (GGNRA). The GGNRA stretches across three Bay Area counties, north and south of the Golden Gate Bridge, and includes iconic places such as Muir Woods National Monument, Fort Point National Historic Site, Alcatraz Island, Crissy Field, Mori Point, Lands End, and the Presidio of San Francisco. The Parks Conservancy engages at the intersection of national park sites, local communities, social justice, and climate resilience. Collab.

What it reported doing in 2024

Park interpretation and visitor services: the parks conservancy operates the alcatraz cellhouse tour, which includes the award-winning alcatraz audio tours, as well as alcatraz night tours and behind the scenes tours. We host over 1.4 million visitors annually on alcatraz island. We also operate interpretive retail and visitor centers open year-round serving millions of local and out-of-town visitors annually at seven locations throughout the parks: alcatraz island, muir woods, fort point, presidio, crissy field warming hut, lands end, and golden gate bridge. Purchases at our visitor centers help support our programs that sustain our parks.

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 97% 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. The filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 74
  • Transparency & Controls: 70
  • Accountability: 95
  • Sustainability: 59
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 86.9%; rating input score 87
  • Program expense ratio: 72%; rating input score 72
  • Fundraising efficiency: $4.63 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 19; 19th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 68th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • 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: Scored; rating input score 0
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 77th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 77th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 8 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 89
    • 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: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 8.6%; rating input score 69; 69th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.73; rating input score 58; 58th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.15; rating input score 76; 76th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 6.7%; rating input score 8; 8th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 0.8% per year; rating input score 100; 10th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 1.4% per year; rating input score 100; 10th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 3.8% per year; rating input score 100; 26th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 1 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
  • Where the money goes: 86.9% of revenue deployed · 72% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 25 of 25 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $36M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $570K · 42 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $5.9M reported
  • Consistency: 42 of 42 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 10 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 16 filing years from 2009 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 15 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 2 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.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • High — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight scored 0/100.
  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 19/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Form 990 shared with the board not reported.
  • Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 58/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 8/100.