Myakka Elephant Ranch Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 843406463
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2020–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025, Form 990-T 2025, Form 990-N 2019
- Location
- Myakka City, FL, USA
- Phone
- 2182320791
- Rating
- 67
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Animal Protection and Welfare
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $2,104,950
- Expenses
- $1,700,233
- Assets
- $1,695,856
- Liabilities
- $92,260
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
8 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- LOU BARREDA (President & CEO)
- LOU ANN BARREDA (Vice President)
Highest reported compensation
- LOU BARREDA (President & CEO): $122,000 total reported compensation
- JULIA BRAREN (Director/COO): $97,862 total reported compensation
- KELLEN BRAREN (Secretary): $800 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Elephant conservation is our primary purpose. Intimate elephant encounters guided by professional caregivers that will enlighten, educate, and provide for an unforgettable experience. Knowledge and understanding are the gateway to global conservation and restoration of these majestic mammals. Our passion, dedication, and collective efforts from the public ensure continued success in this vitally important endeavor.
What it reported doing in 2025
Successfully housed and cared for elephants while executing educational programs and conservation efforts.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Earned-program. 84% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The filing allocates 94% 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 - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. A relatively small share of voting board members are independent and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 76
- Transparency & Controls: 94
- Accountability: 5
- Sustainability: 53
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 80.1%; rating input score 80
- Program expense ratio: 94.6%; rating input score 95
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
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: 100%; rating input score 100; 75th percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 0%; rating input score 0; 4th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 1 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 11
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
- Whistleblower policy: Fail
- Document-retention policy: Fail
- CEO compensation review process: Fail
- Other executive compensation review process: Fail
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Fail
- Audit committee oversight: Missing
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 19.2%; rating input score 71; 71st percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1; rating input score 34; 34th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.05; rating input score 59; 59th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 13%; rating input score 26; 26th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 37.6% per year; rating input score 100; 94th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 26.9% per year; rating input score 100; 92nd percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 33.9% per year; rating input score 100; 94th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 80.1% of revenue deployed · 94.6% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 0 of 8 board members independent · 1 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $1.6M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $122K · 8 people listed
- Consistency: 29 of 29 current checks pass
- Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
- Filing history: 6 filing years from 2020 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 4 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.
- High — Accountability: Independent voting board scored 0/100.
- High — Accountability: Governance controls: 7 of 8 not reported.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 34/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 26/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 59/100.