Golden Sands Resource Conservation and Development Council Incorporated

What it reported doing in 2024

For over 50 years, we have partnered with countless volunteers, agencies, and organizations to make central Wisconsin a better place to work and live by promoting clean water, healthy forests, abundant wildlife, and sustainable agriculture.clean water - our clean boats, clean waters program assisted lakes in central Wisconsin with hiring and training summer watercraft inspectors. Summer staff were hired to talk with boaters at boat landings about the importance of removing plants and draining all water to prevent the spread of invasive species. Our efforts helped boaters recognize that they play a big role in keeping our lakes beautiful! Healthy forests - in 2024, we continued to expand our demonstration forest project. The demonstration forests act as living classrooms and sites for educational workshops, where community members and private landowners can learn about forest management and resources available to help them manage their property. In 2024, we hosted 3 demonstration forest events located at the marathon county demo forest, portage county demo forest and one at the monroe county demo forest. Abundant wildlife - we partnered with the u.s. Fish & wildlife service on a national fish and wildlife foundation monarch program that covers 54 counties in southern Wisconsin. The focal species of this program are the monarch butterfly, rusty patch bumblebee, and the karner blue butterfly. Through this partnership, our habitat restoration technician works with private landowners across the state to restore and enhance 1,000 acres of pollinator habitat over 2 years.sustainable agriculture - our nonprofit organization continued to lead in supporting the united states department of agriculture natural resources conservation service (usda-nrcs), in Wisconsin, by co-employing affiliate staff throughout central and southwest Wisconsin. These employees boosted the capacity of the local offices by taking on a variety of tasks such as: entering applications for conservation programs, writing conservation plans, and documenting completed conservation projects. In 2024 we also expanded our grazing work through building the buzz about grazing in central Wisconsin program. This program helps us reach new audiences and better serve producers needs.

Financial Efficiency

• Mission deployment rate: 95.5%; rating input score 95
• Program expense ratio: 81.4%; rating input score 81
• Fundraising efficiency: $37.98 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 73; 73rd percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

• Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
• Pay-setting controls: Limited
• Foreign activity oversight: Limited
• Grant itemization coverage: Limited
• Major donor itemization: Limited
• Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

• Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
• Governance controls: 5 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 62
  • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
  • Whistleblower policy: Fail
  • Document-retention policy: Pass
  • CEO compensation review process: Pass
  • 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: -17.2%; rating input score 11; 11th percentile among comparable filings
• Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.26; rating input score 12; 12th percentile among comparable filings
• Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.28; rating input score 26; 26th percentile among comparable filings
• Officer compensation ratio: 4.1%; rating input score 55; 55th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

• Program expense growth: 10.8% per year; rating input score 100; 65th percentile among comparable filings
• Revenue growth: 2.2% per year; rating input score 100; 26th percentile among comparable filings
• Asset growth: 2.9% per year; rating input score 100; 29th percentile among comparable filings