Santa Monica Mountains Fund

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
954187832
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Thousand Oaks, CA, USA
Phone
8053702341
Rating
87
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$5,977,017
Expenses
$4,464,098
Assets
$4,676,040
Liabilities
$193,057

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

Leadership & pay

13 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • KIM KOVACS (President)

Highest reported compensation

  • DEANNA ARMBRUSTER (Executive Dir.): $127,050 total reported compensation
  • NICOLE CORTELL (CFO): $97,000 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Santa monica mountains fund (the fund) operates as a not-for-profit organization located in thousand oaks, California. The fund was established on january 22, 1988, to protect and encourage appreciation and understanding of the national and state parklands in the santa monica mountains by supporting the national park service (nps) and California state parks (csp). The fund achieves this mission by partnering with nps and csp to further education, science and research; improving park facilities and trails; engaging community members and youth in education; and leading efforts to steward the natural and cultural resources of these beautiful mountains.

What it reported doing in 2025

HABITAT RESTORATION AND TRAILSThe Fund supports projects and programs that preserve the SMMNRA for public access and ecological resilience. The Seed Farm at Rancho Sierra Vista continues to serve as a vital site for ecological restoration, workforce development, and learning opportunities for local youth. In 2025, the nursery continued expanding its capacity to produce native plants used in habitat restoration and climate resilience projects across the mountains and surrounding communities.The nursery program includes the Oxnard Youth Ecologists (OYE) workforce program and the Monarch and Milkweed initiative. The OYE program provides youth with job skills and hands-on experience in ecological restoration, native seed collection and propagation, and conservation leadership. Youth participants helped cultivate tens of thousands of native plants and supported the distribution of milkweed plants across Los Angeles and Ventura counties to strengthen pollinator habitat and regional wildlife corridors.The Liberty Canyon nursery continued operating at full capacity to support restoration work associated with the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing and surrounding habitat connectivity projects. RESTORATION CREWS ALSO CONTINUED POST FIRE RECOVERY EFFORTS, INCLUDING PLANTING NATIVE TREES AND SHRUBS AND IMPLEMENTING EROSION CONTROL MEASURES IN LANDSCAPES AFFECTED BY THE WOOLSEY, PALISADES, AND OTHER FIRES.The Trail Crew maintained and restored hundreds of miles of public trails throughout the recreation area, addressing storm damage, fire impacts, and routine maintenance to ensure safe public access to parklands.

Operating model

Revenue model
Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 90% 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. Total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown and some filed totals do not add up.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 77
  • Transparency & Controls: 94
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 61
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 68.9%; rating input score 69
  • Program expense ratio: 90.5%; rating input score 91
  • Fundraising efficiency: $39.67 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 75; 75th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 75th percentile among comparable filings
  • 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: 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: 25.3%; rating input score 78; 78th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.05; rating input score 35; 35th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.04; rating input score 63; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 5%; rating input score 57; 57th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 18.3% per year; rating input score 100; 81st percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 15% per year; rating input score 100; 80th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 8.8% per year; rating input score 100; 53rd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 68.9% of revenue deployed · 90.5% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 11 of 11 board members independent · 8 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $4M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $127K · 13 people listed
  • Consistency: 27 of 28 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
  • Filing history: 15 filing years from 2010 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 5 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.

  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 35/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 57/100.