Round River Conservation Studies

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN: 870499405
IRS 990 coverage: 2010–2024
Official website data refreshed: Sep 2026
Forms available: Form 990 2024
Location: Salt Lake City, Utah, USA
Phone: 801-359-4250
Rating: 70
Verdict: SUPPORTED
Rating confidence: Moderate
Sector: Wildlife Preservation, Protection

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue: $1,397,472
Expenses: $1,684,547
Assets: $401,064
Liabilities: $504,632

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

Leadership & pay

8 people listed

Highest reported compensation

DENNIS SIZEMORE (FORMER OFFIC): $164,851 total reported compensation
DOUG MILEK (EXECUTIVE DI): $106,496 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Round River Conservation Studies works to conserve and restore wild places, partnering with local communities and Indigenous peoples to further their conservation visions through community-based conservation science, planning, and stewardship.

What it reported doing in 2024

Round river collaborates with indigenous and local communities on long-term projects to protect intact, wild landscapes and the wildlife they harbor. Round river provides technical science services in the areas of ecology and wildlife science, traditional ecological knowledge interviews, mapping/geographic information systems, habitat and climate change modeling, and human-wildlife conflict resolution. We then coordinate with our local partners to use these tools to work towards sustainable, long- term conservation achievements, resulting in the protection of hundreds of millions of acres of wildlands over round river's 30-year history.

Operating model

Revenue model: Earned-program. 92% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
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 voting board members are independent. The filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad and the filing does not identify recipients for some grant dollars.

Rating breakdown

Financial Efficiency: 76
Transparency & Controls: 47
Accountability: 100
Sustainability: 10
Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

Mission deployment rate: 84%; rating input score 84
Program expense ratio: 69.9%; rating input score 70
Fundraising efficiency: $15.24 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 51; 51st percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
Pay-setting controls: 1 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 17
- Compensation committee: Missing
- 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: Scored; rating input score 0
Grant itemization coverage: Scored; rating input score 0
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: 9 of 9 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: 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: -20.5%; rating input score 9; 9th percentile among comparable filings
Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.24; rating input score 11; 11th percentile among comparable filings
Liabilities to assets ratio: 1.26; rating input score 4; 4th percentile among comparable filings
Officer compensation ratio: 16.1%; rating input score 21; 21st percentile among comparable filings

Growth

Program expense growth: 1.9% per year; rating input score 100; 26th percentile among comparable filings
Revenue growth: 0.6% per year; rating input score 100; 17th percentile among comparable filings
Asset growth: 4.5% per year; rating input score 100; 37th percentile among comparable filings

Details

What they do: 3 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 6 operating locations identified
Where the money goes: 84% of revenue deployed · 69.9% of spending went to programs
Governance: 6 of 6 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $1.2M in reported program spending
Leadership: top reported pay $165K · 8 people listed · 1 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
Consistency: 27 of 27 current checks pass
Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, and executive pay
Filing history: 14 filing years from 2010 to 2024
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 — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight scored 0/100.
High — Transparency & Controls: Grant itemization coverage scored 0/100.
Review — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 51/100.
High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 9/100.
High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 11/100.
High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 4/100.
High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 21/100.