Lake Forest Open Lands Association

Overview

Mission

Since its establishment in 1967, the association has acquired, preserved and maintained over 958 acres of local native landscapes including prairies, savannas, ravines, woodlands and wetlands for the benefit and enjoyment of the entire community. We continue our efforts to restore the land to its historical landscape and maintain these critical habitats. In addition, to promote a connection between the community and the land within it, our preserves are home to over 20 miles of walking trails which are open to the public year round.the association also provides naturalist-led environmental engagements to school children & special workshops offered to children, adults & families. Our environmental engagement programs are designed to develop an understanding of and a love and respect for the natural world around us by including hands-on, participatory activities in a natural setting. Association also cooperates with several institutions promote the scientific study of our preserves.

Operating model

Revenue model

Donor-supported. 86% 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 some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

• Financial Efficiency: 57
• Transparency & Controls: 74
• Accountability: 92
• Sustainability: 82
• Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Details

• Where the money goes: 39.4% of revenue deployed · 85.4% of spending went to programs
• Governance: 18 of 19 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
• Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $2.8M in reported program spending
• Leadership: top reported pay $180K · 21 people listed · 2 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
• Highest-paid contractors: 1 contractor listed · $122K reported
• Consistency: 31 of 31 current checks pass
• Schedules: 11 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
• Filing history: 11 filing years from 2014 to 2025
• Contacts: How to reach this organization
• Money network: 3 filed money-flow records
• Related organizations: 1 filed related-organization link
• 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 39/100.
• Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Other executive compensation review process not reported.
• High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 27/100.
• Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 46/100.