San Bruno Mountain Watch
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 943235791
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2022–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2020
- Location
- Brisbane, CA, USA
- Phone
- 4154676631
- Rating
- 78
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Pollution Abatement and Control Services
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $256,427
- Expenses
- $245,874
- Assets
- $396,821
- Liabilities
- $5,198
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
10 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Reina Kahn (Vice President)
- Emma Lewis (President)
Highest reported compensation
- Ariel Cherbowsky Corkidi (Executive Dir.): $85,293 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
The mission of San Bruno Mountain Watch is to care for San Bruno Mountain through conservation, ecological restoration, education, and advocacy in partnership with local communities.
What it reported doing in 2024
Ecological Restoration Program San Bruno Mountain Watch leads ecological restoration efforts with community volunteers, students, corporate groups, park agencies, and local cities. Volunteers contributed 1,262 hours to community-based ecological restoration efforts in 2024. San Bruno Mountain Watch continued grassland restoration efforts as part of the San Bruno Mountain Habitat Conservation Plan, planting native host and nectar plants to improve habitat for the mountain's endangered Mission Blue and Callippe Silverspot butterflies.The group also carried out rare plant conservation and revegetation efforts for the endangered San Bruno Mountain manzanita and seed amplification of the San Francisco campion. Invasive plant removal efforts continued in areas like the San Bruno Mountain Dunes, the Northeast Ridge, Buckeye and Owl Canyons, and the southern slopes of the mountain. The San Bruno Mountain Botanical Garden continued to expand with the planting of new sections and the addition of botanical signage. San Bruno Mountain Watch also continued restoration efforts within salt marsh and transitional habitats at the shoreline of Colma Creek. The creek begins on San Bruno Mountain and drains into San Francisco Bay. Additionally, the organization began planting at the headwaters of Colma Creek on the mountain and continued planting and maintaining the San Bruno Mountain Test Plot, an experiment that explores the ability of native plants to grow in the understory of historic stands of introduced non-native eucalyptus trees on the mountain.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 77% 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
SUPPORTED - The filed numbers largely add up and a large share of available resources goes toward mission work. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 68
- Transparency & Controls: 92
- Accountability: 79
- Sustainability: 45
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 69.3%; rating input score 69
- Program expense ratio: 71.4%; rating input score 71
- Fundraising efficiency: $18.21 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 55; 55th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th 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; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 4 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 50
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Fail
- Document-retention policy: Fail
- 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: Missing
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 4.1%; rating input score 49; 49th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.61; rating input score 53; 53rd percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.01; rating input score 43; 43rd percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 34.7%; rating input score 8; 8th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 21.7% per year; rating input score 100; 86th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 6.9% per year; rating input score 100; 61st percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 21.9% per year; rating input score 100; 86th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 69.3% of revenue deployed · 71.4% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 9 of 9 board members independent · 4 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $175K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $85K · 10 people listed
- Consistency: 29 of 29 current checks pass
- Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 3 filing years from 2022 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.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 7 not reported.
- Review — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 55/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 49/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 53/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 8/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 43/100.