Rio Grande Watershed Conservation & Education Initiative

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
271157593
IRS 990-EZ coverage
2014–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2015, Form 990-EZ 2025
Location
Alamosa, CO, USA
Phone
7193151214
Rating
86
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Natural Resources Conservation and Protection

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$148,770
Expenses
$136,287
Assets
$88,105
Liabilities
$1,652

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

Leadership & pay

9 people listed

People named in this filing

  • BRIAN NEUFELD (Chairman)
  • TYLER NEELY (VICE CHAIR)
  • JIM RUTGERS (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-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

To provide dynamic conservation education to the san luis valley community and to promote stewardship of our natural resources.

What it reported doing in 2025

Class 2 field educational programs in which the curriculum provides students and teachers in grades k-12 an opportunity to experience conservation that is tied to Colorado content standards through in class hands-on activities and field trips. Curriculum includes poster contest, community events, river trailer and ground water models, wetland trips, farm, field and wildlife area tours, a pumpkin patch, and water festival. Approximately 3,000 k-12 students participated in 2025 programming. The organization receives donated services and use of facilities with a fair value of $10,962 for this program.

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. Revenue has declined or grown slowly and expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 82
  • Transparency & Controls: 100
  • Sustainability: 43
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 78.6%; rating input score 79
  • Program expense ratio: 85.8%; rating input score 86

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 8.4%; rating input score 52; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.65; rating input score 45; 45th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.02; rating input score 33; 33rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 33.6%; rating input score 11; 11th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 5.1% per year; rating input score 100; 45th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -7.1% per year; rating input score 0; 6th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 0.5% per year; rating input score 100; 28th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 78.6% of revenue deployed · 85.8% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: Filed governance answers
  • Accomplishments: 3 filed program accomplishments · $117K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 9 people listed
  • Consistency: 7 of 7 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 10 filing years from 2014 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
  • 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 — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 52/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 45/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 11/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 33/100.