Green Lake Association Inc

What it reported doing in 2025

This year, the green lake association continued to make strides in protecting and restoring green lake, driven by innovative research, dedicated volunteers, and the unwavering support of our community. Together, we tackled challenges, celebrated successes, and set the stage for a cleaner, healthier lake for generations to come. Here are a few key highlights from 2025: phosporus reduction reducing phosphorus takes time-and a shared roadmap - building the science and coordination needed for lasting progress excess phosphorus remains the greatest challenge facing green lake. Reducing it at a scale meaningful enough to improve water quality is not quick or simple. It requires time, coordination, and a clear understanding of where nutrients originate-and how they move through both the watershed and the lake. In 2025, our phosphorus reduction work focused on building that understanding the foundation for long-term progress. Together with local, state, and federal partners, we advanced the development of a new watershed & lake management plan (wlmp)-a shared, science-based roadmap that will guide future restoration decisions and align actions across the watershed. When submitted to the wdnr and epa in 2026, the wlmp will help ensure that future investments are targeted, coordinated, and effective-so every dollar and every project moves the lake closer to recovery. Where the science is already clear, we continued moving from planning to action. In the priority roy creek watershed, we initiated one stream restoration and two gully repair projects with the green lake county land conservation department. These projects were identified from a previous stream erosion inventory completed by the gla in 2023. Together, these efforts reduce erosion and slow the flow of phosphorus before it reaches the lake. We also continue working with the green lake sanitary district and the Wisconsin department of natural resources to advance long-term restoration initiatives in the county k marsh area-testing approaches that could inform broader strategies in the years ahead. On the land, collaboration with farmers remained essential. We continued supporting two demonstration farms and leased access to a shared no till drill with a prairie seed attachment through green lake county land and conservation department, allowing producers across the watershed to test practices that build healthier soils and reduce nutrient runoff. This sustained work strengthens farm resilience while protecting the lake. In the lake itself, the completion of the field work for an internal loading study marked a major milestone. Once analysis is complete, these findings will clarify how much phosphorus is being released from green lake's deepest sediments-information that will help shape future management strategies and focus efforts where they can have the greatest impact. Measurable reductions in phosphorus take time. But 2025 represented meaningful progress-strengthening the science, partnerships, and shared planning needed to move from understanding the challenge to advancing long-term management efforts for green lake. Aquatic invasive species prevention training today for tomorrow's threats - how hands-on monitoring builds long-term capacity on a calm fall evening, the gla programs team made up of john strauser and grace st. Clair headed out onto the lake alongside partners from the Wisconsin department of natural resources and golden sands resource conservation & development council. Their destination wasn't a shoreline or a dock-but the open, quiet water-where a small but important kind of monitoring takes place. Spiny water flea are tiny aquatic invasive species that are nearly invisible to the naked eye, yet capable of disrupting a lake's food web. Once established, they consume native zooplankton that normally keep algae in check-often leading to increased algal growth, degraded water quality, and cascading impacts throughout the food web. Because spiny water flea move

Financial Efficiency

• Mission deployment rate: 69.1%; rating input score 69
• Program expense ratio: 84.2%; rating input score 84
• Fundraising efficiency: $10.47 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 37; 37th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

• Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
• Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
  • Compensation committee: Pass
  • Independent consultant: Missing
  • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
  • Written employment contract: Pass
  • Compensation survey or study: Missing
  • Board or committee approval: Pass
• 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; 64th percentile among comparable filings
• Governance controls: 8 of 8 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: NotApplicable
  • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
  • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
  • Audit committee oversight: Pass
  • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

• Operating margin: 19.5%; rating input score 72; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
• Total-asset coverage ratio: 4.27; rating input score 82; 82nd percentile among comparable filings
• Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.05; rating input score 43; 43rd percentile among comparable filings
• Officer compensation ratio: 11.4%; rating input score 33; 33rd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

• Program expense growth: 20.8% per year; rating input score 100; 80th percentile among comparable filings
• Revenue growth: 21.6% per year; rating input score 100; 84th percentile among comparable filings
• Asset growth: 26.8% per year; rating input score 100; 87th percentile among comparable filings