Save Mount Diablo

What it reported doing in 2024

Stewardship: save mount diablo currently owns and/or manages 21 properties totaling 2190-acres. Save mount diablo also holds perpetual conservation easements on 3 properties, totaling 176-acres.- successfully stewarded the thousands of acres under our care (planting native species, removing invasive species, regular property monitoring, etc.).- more than 685 volunteers completed over 5,996 hours of service in the 2024 - 2025 fiscal year. They have supported all our activities across departments throughout the year. Recurrent stewardship volunteers include 28 property monitors and 34 volunteer stewards.- volunteers: our volunteers are the heroes and heroines of land preservation. They help make our work possible, whether it be by helping restore ecological systems, becoming a hike leader, assisting with event registration, staffing aid stations, taking photos, or setting up equipment. Their hard work and generosity are what help make this organization's efforts so successful.- stewards also continued monthly property outings, and organized small workdays for restoration plantings, weeding, mulching, watering native plantings and clean up of our properties.- staff continued monitoring impacts to vegetation in the jackass canyon area, with California state parks and cal fire, working together to thin, chip and manage hazardous fuel load in the area.- with our partners at the lindsay wildlife experience, we continued to release rehabilitated american kestrels into the mount diablo foothills, strengthening wildlife corridors.- advanced our 10,000 trees and native plants project, planting and caring for more than 3,000 plants at our restoration sites, many of those plants being California milkweed and other pollinator plants for monarch foraging, building and strengthening habitat for wildlife.- we monitor and remediate storm damage on all our properties. We installed a solar well and a wildlife trough at mc7 to maintain and strengthen wildlife habitat and water quality in marsh creek. - staff worked with students and volunteers to create a pollinator garden at mc7, and fenced it with cedar split-rail fencing, to protect the area from cattle that graze for fire abatement. This is all in partnership with a grant from cdfw to strengthen wildlife habitat for listed species and improve water quality in marsh creek.- staff led the 4th annual pine canyon clean-up with the mount diablo state park, the east bay regional park district, the american alpine club, and the bay area climbers coalition, where we removed invasive species, graffiti, and trash from the pine canyon area, as well as hazardous fuel load from the aspara drive area with a chipper.- we hosted major clean-up workdays, including a coastal clean-up workday in kirker creek, with the help of a small group of volunteers to remove 10 garbage bags of trash. - on our coastal cleanup day, we removed 3,000 lbs of debris.- in 2025, save mount diablo finished creating and opening more public trails at our curry canyon ranch preserve which means our organization has now created and opened over 7 miles of new public trails, at our curry canyon ranch and mangini ranch educational preserve, in just the last few years.- stewardship staff led 4 environmental education days at curry canyon ranch for mdusd students in the bacr cares program, effectively creating an inspiring workday in the hills.

Financial Efficiency

• Mission deployment rate: 45.9%; rating input score 46
• Program expense ratio: 63.9%; rating input score 64
• Fundraising efficiency: $7.56 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 28; 28th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

• Consistency checks: 90%; rating input score 90; 4th percentile among comparable filings
• Pay-setting controls: 2 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 33
  • Compensation committee: Missing
  • Independent consultant: Missing
  • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
  • Written employment contract: Missing
  • Compensation survey or study: Pass
  • Board or committee approval: Pass
• Foreign activity oversight: Limited
• Grant itemization coverage: 55%; rating input score 55; 16th 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: 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: 34.4%; rating input score 86; 86th percentile among comparable filings
• Total-asset coverage ratio: 7.43; rating input score 88; 88th percentile among comparable filings
• Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.07; rating input score 65; 65th percentile among comparable filings
• Officer compensation ratio: 19.3%; rating input score 13; 13th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

• Program expense growth: -9.7% per year; rating input score 0; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
• Revenue growth: 4% per year; rating input score 100; 34th percentile among comparable filings
• Asset growth: 4% per year; rating input score 100; 29th percentile among comparable filings