Kalamazoo Nature Center
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 381674780
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2011–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Kalamazoo, MI, USA
- Phone
- 2693811574
- Rating
- 78
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Standard
- Sector
- Environmental Education and Outdoor Survival Programs
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $9,522,496
- Expenses
- $5,231,119
- Assets
- $36,629,381
- Liabilities
- $792,960
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
17 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Heather Graves (President & CEO)
Highest reported compensation
- Nancy Cobado (CFO): $80,765 total reported compensation
- Heather Graves (President & CEO): $65,442 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Create relationships & experiences that welcome and inspire people to discover, enjoy, value, and care for nature. Kalamazoo Nature Center envisions a resilient community where all people have strong interconnections with the natural world.
What it reported doing in 2024
Research activities at KNC create partnerships with scientists to understand the restoration and conservation needs of native habitats and species, with a particular focus on long-term bird surveys. Stewardship activities protect, conserve, and restore KNC's ecological heritage through a variety of sustainable land management practices across the Center's 1,500+ acres of land. KNC's ecological services division works with private and public landowners to find more sustainable solutions for their land management needs. And, conservation engagement programs cultivate care for nature through immersive education in regenerative agriculture, animal ambassador encounters, and thoughtfully maintained trails and gardens.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 70% 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.
- Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.
The verdict
SUPPORTED - The filed numbers largely add up and most voting board members are independent. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 59
- Transparency & Controls: 87
- Accountability: 95
- Sustainability: 86
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 53.3%; rating input score 53
- Program expense ratio: 73.4%; rating input score 73
- Fundraising efficiency: $11.75 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 43; 43rd percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 94.4%; rating input score 94; 24th 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: No; rating input score 0
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd 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: Fail
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 45.1%; rating input score 91; 91st percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 7; rating input score 88; 88th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.02; rating input score 80; 80th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 2.8%; rating input score 70; 70th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 4% per year; rating input score 100; 33rd percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 6.2% per year; rating input score 100; 49th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 3.8% per year; rating input score 100; 28th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 53.3% of revenue deployed · 73.4% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 15 of 15 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $3.8M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $81K · 17 people listed
- Consistency: 32 of 33 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 14 filing years from 2011 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 2 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.
- Review — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 53/100.
- Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 43/100.
- High — Transparency & Controls: Related-party transparency scored 0/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Other executive compensation review process not reported.
- Review — Transparency & Controls: Schedule R controlled transactions itemized did not reconcile in the filed values.