Los Cerritos Wetlands Land Trust

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
330974992
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Long Beach, CA, USA
Phone
5628843590
Rating
86
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Recycling Programs

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$525,566
Expenses
$404,765
Assets
$2,099,154
Liabilities
$0

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

Leadership & pay

10 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Elizabeth Lambe (Executive Director)
  • David Michalik (Vice President)
  • John Fries (President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Elizabeth Lambe (Executive Director): $37,350 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

The Los Cerritos Wetlands Land Trust of Long Beach and Seal Beach seeks to acquire, restore, preserve and provide education about the former estuary of the Lower San Gabriel River, its tidal salt marsh, riparian habitats, and buffer of coastal sage scrub habitats.

What it reported doing in 2025

COMMUNITY OUTREACH & PUBLIC EDUCATION: The Land Trust offers numerous education programs. Among these is the unique community service of free monthly guided nature walks through the wetlands led by trained ecologists and naturalists. These experts provide an immersive experience in our local wetlands while educating attendees about their history and importance. Due to the ongoing restoration of the Southern Area, we redirected our Raptor Ramble nature walk through Gum Grove Park. We host educational kayak tours of Steamshovel Slough, the most pristine part of the wetlands, led by a trained naturalist. The Land Trust also offers field trips for elementary classrooms, with an emphasis on students from Title I schools. We collaborate with the Long Beach parks district on their hands-on Be S.A.F.E. summer youth program by hosting youth from some of Long Beachs most urban neighborhoods at Zedler Marsh so they can learn about and explore the tidal salt marsh ecosystem.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 72% 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. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and reported officer compensation is a large share of total spending, which may reflect staffing concentration.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 80
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 90
  • Sustainability: 76
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 73.1%; rating input score 73
  • Program expense ratio: 91.3%; rating input score 91
  • Fundraising efficiency: $92.53 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 84; 84th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd 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: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 6 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 75
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Fail
    • 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: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 23%; rating input score 76; 76th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 5.19; rating input score 85; 85th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 88; 88th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 9.2%; rating input score 39; 39th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 6.8% per year; rating input score 100; 45th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 8.9% per year; rating input score 100; 57th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 0.7% per year; rating input score 100; 18th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 73.1% of revenue deployed · 91.3% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 9 of 9 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $369K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $37K · 10 people listed
  • Highest-paid contractors: 1 contractor listed · $187K reported
  • Consistency: 23 of 23 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 15 filing years from 2010 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • 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 — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 8 not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 39/100.