Rocky Mountain Conservancy

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
840472090
IRS 990 coverage
2011–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Estes Park, CO, USA
Phone
9705860108
Rating
87
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Parks and Playgrounds

Reported finances

Revenue
$11,446,325
Expenses
$8,741,922
Assets
$32,618,099
Liabilities
$1,663,076

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

Leadership & pay

19 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • WALTER BORNEMAN (PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • ESTHER MURDOCK (EXECUTIVE DI): $227,275 total reported compensation
  • CAROLYN CARLSON (DIR. OF ADMI): $146,651 total reported compensation
  • JESSICA WILLUWEIT (FINANCE MANA): $129,086 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

The rocky mountain conservancy promotes stewardship of rocky mountain national park and similar lands through education and philanthropy.

What it reported doing in 2025

Rocky mountain conservancy takes pride in its service to public lands, and particularly rocky mountain national park, in a wide variety of ways, including: a) providing information to millions of visitors by staffing visitor centers, providing publications, giving travel assistance, and advising about safety; b) advancing educational programs particularly reaching approximately 10,000 children and young adults annually, with innovative programs such as rocky mountain conservancy conservation corps and the next generation fund; c) acquiring parcels of significant land to be added to the park and nearby forests; d) conducting major improvement projects, in both trails and the restoration of historic structures.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 85% 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.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

The verdict

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and reported officer compensation is a large share of total spending, which may reflect staffing concentration.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 90
  • Transparency & Controls: 74
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 74
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 87.3%; rating input score 87
  • Fundraising efficiency: $16.04 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 48; 48th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 2 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 33
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Pass
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • 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: 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: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: Pass
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 23.6%; rating input score 79; 79th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 3.73; rating input score 72; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.05; rating input score 77; 77th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 5.8%; rating input score 52; 52nd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 12.5% per year; rating input score 100; 75th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 10.3% per year; rating input score 100; 74th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 7.6% per year; rating input score 100; 54th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 87.3% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 14 of 14 board members independent · 8 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $7.6M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $227K · 19 people listed · 2 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 33 of 33 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 13 filing years from 2011 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 3 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.
  • 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.

  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 48/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 52/100.