Public Lands Alliance

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
541123356
IRS 990 coverage
2009–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Washington, DC, USA
Phone
3019469475
Rating
76
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Parks and Playgrounds

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$1,655,416
Expenses
$1,554,977
Assets
$1,216,357
Liabilities
$235,617

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

17 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • THERESA MCMULLAN - INTERIM (CEO & DIRECT)
  • DANIEL PUSKAR - OUTGOING (PRESIDENT AN)

Highest reported compensation

  • DANIEL PUSKAR - OUTGOING (PRESIDENT AN): $172,248 total reported compensation
  • AMY MATTHEWS (VICE PRESIDE): $105,654 total reported compensation
  • THERESA MCMULLAN - INTERIM (CEO & DIRECT): $20,672 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

The public lands alliance (pla) connects, strengthens, and represents the nonprofit partners of america's public lands. Founded in 1977, pla is the national organization serving the community of nonprofits that support public lands, including cooperating associations, friends groups, trail and watershed conservancies, historical associations, and community stewardship and advocacy organizations. Pla represents a network of nearly 150 member organizations supporting more than 750 public land sites across the united states. Pla builds the capacity and effectiveness of these nonprofit partners to leverage private philanthropy, engage volunteers and local communities, expand educational opportunities, and inspire stewardship of our nation's treasured landscapes and historic places. Strong nonprofit partners are essential to ensuring that one day america's public lands are understood and appreciated, preserved and conserved, and enjoyed by all.

What it reported doing in 2024

Strengthen pla offers a variety of training, consultation, and networking experiences that enhance the capabilities of nonprofit public land organizations and land management agencies to solve problems, create impact, and achieve shared missions that benefit public lands and their users. Pla delivers its programs online and at face-to-face meetings across the country. Its annual convention and trade show offers critical education, shared learning, and best practices to more than 600 professionals and volunteers from the public lands community and industry partners. Other professional development programs include the partnership awards program, webinars, and an online education resource library. Pla has a special relationship with the u.s. Fish and wildlife service to increase public awareness of and private support for the national wildlife refuge system through collaborative partnerships and capacity building with refuge friends organizations.

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 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.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. The filing does not identify recipients for some grant dollars and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 76
  • Transparency & Controls: 65
  • Accountability: 95
  • Sustainability: 41
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 80.9%; rating input score 81
  • Program expense ratio: 85.7%; rating input score 86
  • Fundraising efficiency: $6.36 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 24; 24th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 92.9%; rating input score 93; 19th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 2 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 33
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 38.7%; rating input score 39; 27th percentile among comparable filings
  • 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 9 controls in place; rating input score 89
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 6.1%; rating input score 53; 53rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.78; rating input score 35; 35th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.19; rating input score 32; 32nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 19.2%; rating input score 16; 16th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 9.5% per year; rating input score 100; 61st percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 4.7% per year; rating input score 100; 42nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 5.4% per year; rating input score 100; 41st percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 80.9% of revenue deployed · 85.7% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 12 of 12 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $1.3M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $172K · 17 people listed · 2 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 31 of 32 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 13 filing years from 2009 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 7 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 4 filed related-organization links
  • 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.

  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Grant itemization coverage scored 39/100.
  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 24/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 53/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 35/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Other executive compensation review process not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 16/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 32/100.