Mississippi Delta Nature and Learning Center

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
850631468
IRS 990 coverage
2023–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-N 2022
Location
Greenville, MS, USA
Phone
6624302156
Rating
83
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Standard
Sector
Public Health Program (Includes General Health and Wellness Promotion Services)

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$281,550
Expenses
$343,390
Assets
$294,447
Liabilities
$99,976

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

Leadership & pay

5 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Tamela Gines (President)

People named in this filing

  • Jessi Riel (Treasurer)
  • Tamela Gines (President)
  • Jonathan Delperdang (Secretary)

Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.

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

Overview

Mission

To care for the earth and the people who live here. We know that children and youth are spending less time outdoors than ever before and it is having a negative impact on all aspects of health and wellbeing. We also know that life saving and sustaining knowledge connected with the natural world is being lost. To combat these challenges, we are providing opportunities for outdoor play and education for all ages as well as sharing knowledge about how the natural world sustains us and our role in our local ecosystem.

What it reported doing in 2025

Children ages 5-15 in the Mississippi Delta were provided with hands-on educational experiences that taught them about environmental stewardship in their community. The purpose of the program is to connect youth to nature rather than teaching them abstract concepts in a standard classroom setting. Youth must feel an emotional connection to the natural world if there is going to be hope of them protecting it. With the increased use of technology in classrooms, students in the Mississippi Delta spend less time engaging with the natural world, sometimes even regularly skipping recess due to testing concerns and cutting science instruction short to focus on tested subjects. This program will provide children with experiential science learning opportunities through field trips, summer camps, and weekly programming. The project will take place both at the Heart and Soul Children's Garden at Mississippi Delta Nature and Learning Center as well as in the classrooms of area schools. Activities include hands-on activities designed around the Mississippi College and Career Readiness Standards. The curriculum integrates Science, Math, Literacy, Social Studies, and the Arts. The project has been designed based on research that shows one time and intermittent environmental education can be effective in creating an emotional connection to the natural world, which leads to behavior change in young participants.

Operating model

Revenue model
Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
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. Expenses are high relative to revenue and revenue has declined or grown slowly.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 97
  • Transparency & Controls: 85
  • Accountability: 76
  • Sustainability: 25
  • Growth: 40

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 91.9%; rating input score 92
  • Fundraising efficiency: $341.41 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 93; 93rd percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 81.8%; rating input score 82; 1st 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: 80%; rating input score 80; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 5 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 71
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -22%; rating input score 11; 11th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.86; rating input score 37; 37th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.34; rating input score 12; 12th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 67; 67th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 17.5% per year; rating input score 100; 80th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -5.4% per year; rating input score 0; 8th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -4.2% per year; rating input score 0; 11th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 91.9% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 4 of 5 board members independent · 5 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $309K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 5 people listed
  • Consistency: 24 of 26 current checks pass · 2 findings to review
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 3 filing years from 2023 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.

  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 11/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule D land buildings reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 37/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 12/100.