Nectandra Institute

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
954751630
IRS 990 coverage
2020–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Alameda, CA, USA
Phone
5105217053
Rating
68
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Environmental Education and Outdoor Survival Programs

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$51,953
Expenses
$85,210
Assets
$548,376
Liabilities
$0

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

Leadership & pay

8 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Dougal McCreath (president)
  • David A Lennette (vice-president)

People named in this filing

  • Dougal McCreath (president)
  • David A Lennette (vice-president)
  • Evelyne T Lennette (Secretary & Treasurer)

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

Nectandra Institute's mission is to promote the conservation of the montane cloud forests of Costa Rica through public education, scientific research, and watershed stewardship.

What it reported doing in 2025

Conservation, Restoration and Advocacy programs: Restoration and conservation efforts continued on lands totalling 570 acres purchased by local community organizations with eco-loans from Nectandra Institute. During 2022, we co-ordinated over 862 person-hours of restoration and monitoring work, including tree planting, measuring tree growth, monitoring the water volume flowing from springs and in streams, and photo documentation of forest restoration progress. Conservation of lands acquired through Nectandra Institute eco-loans has improved the protection of the sources of drinking water for ca. 16000 people. Additional conservation work continued on 40 acres of land owned by Nectandra Institute. We increased participation with other regional and national organizations to exchange topical information including the inter-institutional commission for the Paseo de Nubes bio-corridor, which exists to strengthen the biological connectivity between Juan Castro Blanco National Park and the Alberto Manuel Brenes Biological Preserve--a species and endemism hotspot, and CONAFLU, a national confederation of water management associations in Costa Rica.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 100% 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

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and most voting board members are independent. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and the filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 81
  • Transparency & Controls: 55
  • Accountability: 64
  • Sustainability: 42
  • Growth: 80

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 76.1%; rating input score 76
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Scored; rating input score 0
  • Grant itemization coverage: Scored; rating input score 0
  • 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: 1 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 14
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -64%; rating input score 23; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 6.44; rating input score 57; 57th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 66; 66th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 58; 58th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 6.3% per year; rating input score 100; 66th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 1.6% per year; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -3.9% per year; rating input score 0; 22nd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 76.1% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 8 of 8 board members independent · 1 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $65K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 8 people listed
  • Consistency: 40 of 40 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors and foreign activity
  • Filing history: 6 filing years from 2020 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • 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.

Grant-readiness screening is separate from the live rating, not a measure of program quality. Review the source records before making a grant decision.

  • High — Accountability: Governance controls: 5 of 6 not reported.
  • High — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight scored 0/100.
  • High — Transparency & Controls: Grant itemization coverage scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 23/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 57/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 58/100.
  • Review — Grant Readiness: California registration: this organization could not be resolved against the register, so the check is unfinished.