OneReef Worldwide Stewardship
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 464293324
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2013–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025, Form 990-N 2012
- Location
- Palo Alto, CA, USA
- Phone
- 4084752180
- Rating
- 71
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Standard
- Sector
- Animal Protection and Welfare
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $2,332,121
- Expenses
- $3,147,485
- Assets
- $2,038,333
- Liabilities
- $64,833
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
13 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Christopher LaFranchi (President)
- Lida Teneva (CEO)
- Nicole Christian (CEO)
Highest reported compensation
- Christopher LaFranchi (President): $222,719 total reported compensation
- Ann Cannella (Dir. Finance): $190,295 total reported compensation
- Donna Chandra (Dir. Strategy): $179,093 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
OneReefs mission is to ensure healthy ocean ecosystems and thriving coastal communities across the Pacific.
What it reported doing in 2025
OneReef has 3 main priorities: 1) invest in place-based stewardship in Micronesia by helping communities manage marine protected areas, restore mangroves, strengthen fisheries management, empower women, invest in youth learning traditional ocean knowledge, and monitor the health of coastal ecosystems;2) invest in people by training early-career environmental leaders in conservation practice, nonprofit management, project development, budgeting, reporting, grant writing, communications, and leadership skills; 3) invest in institutional capacity by supporting government agencies and local organizations with infrastructure, equipment, training, and connections to sustainable conservation financing. In 2025, OneReef delivered measurable impact at scale across the Pacific. The organization supported 59 communities across 7 countries, helping safeguard approximately 918,627 acres of marine areas and reaching more than 91,559 people directly and indirectly. Through the MiCOAST initiative and related programs, over 600 individuals were directly engaged in activities such as fisheries management, with 50 staff from partner organizations trained in gender equity and social inclusion, and 11 farmers trained in mariculture producing more than 5,000 rabbitfish. OneReef also strengthened on-the-ground capacity through improved ranger safety and operations, infrastructure investments such as patrol vessels and station upgrades, and expanded youth engagement and community outreach programs. In parallel, ecological monitoring and long-term studies showed significant gains in reef health, including doubling of fish abundance in Pohnpei over a 10 year period, demonstrating tangible progress toward improved ocean health and human well-being.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 97% 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 filed governance safeguards are in place. The filing does not identify recipients for some grant dollars and the filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 80
- Transparency & Controls: 57
- Accountability: 81
- Sustainability: 16
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 98.4%; rating input score 98
- Program expense ratio: 72.9%; rating input score 73
- Fundraising efficiency: $4.74 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 14; 14th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 88.2%; rating input score 88; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 4 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 67
- Compensation committee: Pass
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
- Written employment contract: Pass
- Compensation survey or study: Pass
- Board or committee approval: Pass
- Foreign activity oversight: 1 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 12
- Claims monitoring procedures: Pass
- Requires narrative reports: Fail
- Conducts field audits: Fail
- May suspend future funding: Fail
- Requires financial reports: Fail
- Conducts site visits: Fail
- Requires grant agreements: Fail
- May require repayment: Fail
- Grant itemization coverage: 0%; rating input score 0; 8th percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 66.7%; rating input score 67; 13th 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: -35%; rating input score 2; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.65; rating input score 22; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.03; rating input score 66; 66th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 28.9%; rating input score 8; 8th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 18.4% per year; rating input score 100; 81st percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 17.9% per year; rating input score 100; 84th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 28.1% per year; rating input score 100; 91st percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 98.4% of revenue deployed · 72.9% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 6 of 9 board members independent · 8 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $2.3M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $223K · 13 people listed · 4 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 1 contractor listed · $118K reported
- Consistency: 30 of 32 current checks pass · 2 findings to review
- Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, and executive pay
- Filing history: 12 filing years from 2013 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 7 filed money-flow records
- 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.
- 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.
- High — Transparency & Controls: Grant itemization coverage scored 0/100.
- High — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight: 7 of 8 not reported.
- High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 14/100.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 2/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 22/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 8/100.
- Review — Transparency & Controls: Foreign grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
- Review — Transparency & Controls: Schedule R controlled transactions itemized did not reconcile in the filed values.