Keep Big Sur Wild
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 873666057
- IRS 990-EZ coverage
- 2022–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990-EZ 2025
- Location
- Big Sur, CA, USA
- Phone
- 8317474105
- Rating
- 74
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Alliance/Advocacy Organizations
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $63,286
- Expenses
- $27,372
- Assets
- $94,670
Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
3 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Marcus Foster (President)
People named in this filing
- James Walters (Secretary)
- Cara Weston (CFO)
- Marcus Foster (President)
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 engage in and further the protection of the environment in and around the Big Sur area, to educate the community of Big Sur and the public regarding land use and environmental issues, to ensure the protection of the landscape through the continued implementation of the Big Sur Coast Land Use Plan certified in 1986, and to carry out other educational activities associated with these purposes.
What it reported doing in 2025
Preserve and enhance the protections provided in the Big Sur Land Use Plan, inform the community of the uniqueness and fragilty of the Big Sur Coast, and preserve the wild beauty and environmental integrity of the Big Sur Coast.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Cannot be determined from the filing. The filing does not provide enough consistent revenue detail to tell how this nonprofit funds its work.
- 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
SUPPORTED - The filed numbers largely add up and program spending has grown recently. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and reported officer compensation is a large share of total spending, which may reflect staffing concentration.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 51
- Transparency & Controls: 100
- Sustainability: 73
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 34.1%; rating input score 34
- Program expense ratio: 78.8%; rating input score 79
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 51st percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 56.7%; rating input score 92; 92nd percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 3.46; rating input score 77; 77th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: Limited
- Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 56; 56th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 11.4% per year; rating input score 100; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 16.5% per year; rating input score 100; 87th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 42.4% per year; rating input score 100; 93rd percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 34.1% of revenue deployed · 78.8% of spending went to programs
- Governance: Filed governance answers
- Accomplishments: 1 filed program accomplishment · $22K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 3 people listed
- Consistency: 6 of 6 current checks pass
- Schedules: 3 filed schedules
- Filing history: 4 filing years from 2022 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: Resolved incoming and outgoing counterparties from filed money flows.
- 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.
- Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 34/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 56/100.