Humboldt Waterkeeper

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
861468130
IRS 990-EZ coverage
2022–2025
Forms available
Form 990-EZ 2025
Location
Arcata, CA, USA
Phone
7074993678
Rating
89
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Natural Resources Conservation and Protection

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$181,988
Expenses
$163,043
Assets
$172,658
Liabilities
$27,296

Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

4 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Alicia Hamann (Board President)
  • Matt Simmons (Board Vice President)
  • Jennifer Kalt (Board Secretary and Executive Director)

People named in this filing

  • Alicia Hamann (Board President)
  • Matt Simmons (Board Vice President)
  • Mary R Bencie (Board Treasurer)

Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.

Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

To safeguard coastal resources for health and economic strength through education and scientific research.

What it reported doing in 2025

Scientific Research: Mapping and researching contaminated sites at risk from rising sea level; developing a database for mapping total restoration projects; meetings withscientists, agency staff, tribes, and community members to gather input; water quality monitoring for toxic tire chemicals.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 98% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
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. Expenses are high relative to revenue and reported officer compensation is a large share of total spending, which may reflect staffing concentration.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 83
  • Transparency & Controls: 100
  • Sustainability: 48
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 79.5%; rating input score 80
  • Program expense ratio: 88.3%; rating input score 88

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 10.4%; rating input score 56; 56th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.06; rating input score 61; 61st percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.16; rating input score 17; 17th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 31.6%; rating input score 12; 12th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 20.6% per year; rating input score 100; 75th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 29.4% per year; rating input score 100; 89th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 33.8% per year; rating input score 100; 87th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 79.5% of revenue deployed · 88.3% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: Filed governance answers
  • Accomplishments: 3 filed program accomplishments · $144K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 4 people listed
  • Consistency: 7 of 7 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 4 filing years from 2022 to 2025
  • 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.

  • Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 56/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 12/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 17/100.