San Diego Habitat Conservancy
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 330906648
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2015–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025
- Location
- San Diego, CA, USA
- Phone
- 6193654839
- Rating
- 66
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Arts, Culture, and Humanities N.E.C.
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $6,543,222
- Expenses
- $1,336,422
- Assets
- $53,938,830
- Liabilities
- $117,432
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
7 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- DOREEN STATLANDER (President)
- ERIC MONDERO (Vice President)
Highest reported compensation
- DON SCOLES (Executive Direc): $206,499 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Acquire, manage and protect land in perpetuity that supports sensitive habitats and species, and to educate and inspire people and communities as stewards and advocates of their natural environment.
What it reported doing in 2025
THE ORGANIZATION'S PROGRAMS INCLUDE Land Preservation and Stewardship PROGRAM AND A Community Outreach and Education PROGRAM. Land preservation and stewardship includes managing hundreds of acres of natural open space dedicated for conservation in perpetuity, utilizing scientists, biologist and volunteers who perform duties such as mapping and tracking the status of sensitive species and habitat, implementing adaptive management to suit the needs of a particular preserve, working with state and federal wildlife agencies, providing required education to the homeowners surrounding our preserves, mending fences, replacing signs and removing invasive species/weeds. Community outreach and education includes promoting learning opportunities and stimulating interest in the public regarding environmental issues in San Diego, providing education for students pursuing environmental studies or careers, at public outreach events, and hosting guided field trips to the preserves to discuss the importance of habitat and species protection and to show habitat restoration activities in the field.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 94% 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 most voting board members are independent. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 44
- Transparency & Controls: 70
- Accountability: 90
- Sustainability: 87
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 22.4%; rating input score 22
- Program expense ratio: 95.5%; rating input score 95
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
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: Pass
- Written employment contract: Missing
- Compensation survey or study: Missing
- Board or committee approval: Missing
- 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: 6 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 75
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Other executive compensation review process: Fail
- Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 79.6%; rating input score 97; 97th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 40.36; rating input score 98; 98th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 86; 86th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 15.5%; rating input score 21; 21st percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 14.9% per year; rating input score 100; 75th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 8.4% per year; rating input score 100; 59th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 14.9% per year; rating input score 100; 74th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 22.4% of revenue deployed · 95.5% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 6 of 6 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $1.3M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $206K · 7 people listed · 1 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Consistency: 29 of 29 current checks pass
- Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
- Filing history: 10 filing years from 2015 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
- Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
- 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 — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 22/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 8 not reported.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 21/100.