Mainspring Conservation Trust Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 562142199
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2013–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024
- Location
- Franklin, NC, USA
- Phone
- 8285242711
- Rating
- 93
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Standard
- Sector
- Land Resources Conservation
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $6,684,058
- Expenses
- $5,810,072
- Assets
- $19,870,845
- Liabilities
- $1,939,837
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
17 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Jordan Smith (Executive Director)
Highest reported compensation
- Jordan Smith (Executive Director): $109,317 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
To conserve unique and special places in the heart of the Southern Blue Ridge for the benefit of all.
What it reported doing in 2024
LAND In 2024, Mainspring completed sixteen land transactions, protecting 1528 acres in Western North Carolina. - Two fee simple donations of property received & three fee simple land acquisitions - Three sales of conserved land, one to the USFS and two to the NC Wildlife Resources Commission - Four CEs donations received & two CEs purchased with grant and private funding - Two CEs sold to the NC Land and Water Fund By the end of 2024, Mainspring was responsible for monitoring 105 conservation easements totaling 16,184 acres. It owned 32 properties in fee simple, or 3,468 acres; 1,946 acres on 14 Mainspring properties were also under conservation easement. Volunteers contributed more than 725 hours to help improve the landscape through habitat management and recreational improvements.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 67% 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
STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Liabilities are high compared with assets.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 85
- Transparency & Controls: 100
- Accountability: 100
- Sustainability: 71
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 78%; rating input score 78
- Program expense ratio: 94.8%; rating input score 95
- Fundraising efficiency: $104.66 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 87; 87th 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; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 8 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 100
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: Pass
- 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: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 13.1%; rating input score 68; 68th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 3.42; rating input score 77; 77th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.1; rating input score 59; 59th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 1.9%; rating input score 76; 76th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 14.2% per year; rating input score 100; 76th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 10.3% per year; rating input score 100; 69th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 9.3% per year; rating input score 100; 56th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 78% of revenue deployed · 94.8% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 16 of 16 board members independent · 8 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $5.5M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $109K · 17 people listed
- Highest-paid contractors: 4 contractors listed · $636K reported
- Consistency: 36 of 36 current checks pass
- Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 11 filing years from 2013 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
- 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.
- Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.
Key Signals
Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.
- Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 59/100.