Rusk Ranch Nature Center
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 203372120
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2020–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025, Form 990-N 2020
- Location
- Cave Junction, OR, USA
- Phone
- 5412870172
- Rating
- 83
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Community Recreational Centers
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $89,979
- Expenses
- $75,769
- Assets
- $906,112
- Liabilities
- $0
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
6 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Patricia Downing (Executive Director Secretary)
People named in this filing
- Patricia Downing (Executive Director Secretary)
- Divonna Ratliff (Board Director)
- Diana Hailey (Board Director)
Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
The Mission of the Rusk Ranch Nature Center is to benefit the community with enrichment jobs housing and opportunities for the public particularly young people to appreciate the natural world and instill a sense of stewardship toward the earth and its inhabitants and preserve and conserve nature and wildlife. At Rusk Ranch Nature Center we value the healing power of nature and natures ability to nurture creativity to inspire a sense of belonging and to build community by showing us our deep inter-connectedness. We value the long term wholeness of recognizing that people and nature are inseparable. We strive to nurture whole families multi-age groups and children. Our most significant activities are to offer hands on experiences in nature to families children and visitors.
What it reported doing in 2025
2 Nature Discovery Center at the nonprofit organization facilitated engaging experiences through the Butterfly Pavilion and Nature Discovery Trail catering to a diverse audience including school groups developmentally disabled adults and senior living communities. Visitors including students witnessing butterfly emergence at schools and travelers exploring the trail actively participated in cultivating pollinator plants. The initiative further expanded with the introduction of new exhibits and the inception of an all-access pathway in the natural playground enhancing educational and recreational opportunities for all participants.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 66% 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.
The verdict
STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and some filed totals do not add up.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 74
- Transparency & Controls: 93
- Accountability: 88
- Sustainability: 66
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 77.9%; rating input score 78
- Program expense ratio: 92.6%; rating input score 93
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 90.9%; rating input score 91; 19th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: Limited
- 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: 5 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 71
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Missing
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 15.8%; rating input score 67; 67th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 11.96; rating input score 69; 69th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 66; 66th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 58; 58th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 5.4% per year; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 4.9% per year; rating input score 100; 75th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 0.1% per year; rating input score 100; 38th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 77.9% of revenue deployed · 92.6% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 6 of 6 board members independent · 5 of 7 filing controls reported
- Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $70K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 6 people listed
- Consistency: 41 of 42 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 6 filing years from 2020 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- 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.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
- Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 58/100.