Restoration Trust
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 943359423
- IRS 990-EZ coverage
- 2022–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990-EZ 2025, Form 990-N 2021
- Location
- Orinda, CA, USA
- Phone
- 5108126098
- Rating
- 84
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Land Resources Conservation
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $2,000
- Expenses
- $55,104
- Assets
- $91,626
Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
3 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- John Zentner (President)
People named in this filing
- Brian Davis (Treasurer)
- John Zentner (President)
- David Kelley (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-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
The primary purposes of the Restoration Trust are to provide charitable assistance to the public to protect land, including the acquisition of easements; to restore land to native conditions; to manage it to further promote native habitats; to engage in scientific activities that promote protection, restoration, and stewardship of native habitats; and to develop and distribute educational materials to the public on protection, restoration, and stewardship of native habitats.
What it reported doing in 2025
Community Habitat Restoration. The Trust directed, guided or assisted five local community groups with habitat restoration projects in 2025. We worked with the Laguna de Santa Rosa Foundation, the Friends of Lafayette Creek, the Walnut Creek Watershed Council, the Friends of Concord Creeks, and Contra Costa County to restore more than 28,000 sq ft of degraded habitat, planting more than 20,000 native plants and involving almost 250 people. Also include were educational presentations to each group.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Cannot be determined from the filing. The filing does not provide enough consistent revenue detail to tell how this nonprofit funds its work.
- 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 program spending has declined or grown slowly.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 99
- Transparency & Controls: 82
- Sustainability: 25
- Growth: 0
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
- Program expense ratio: 97.1%; rating input score 97
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 51st percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Limited
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -2,655.2%; rating input score 1; 1st percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.66; rating input score 61; 61st percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: Limited
- Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 56; 56th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: -40.2% per year; rating input score 0; 11th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: -69.3% per year; rating input score 0; 4th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: -1.2% per year; rating input score 0; 33rd percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 97.1% of spending went to programs
- Governance: Filed governance answers
- Accomplishments: 3 filed program accomplishments · $54K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 3 people listed
- Consistency: 6 of 6 current checks pass
- Schedules: 2 filed schedules
- Filing history: 4 filing years from 2022 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 1/100.
- High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
- High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
- High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 56/100.