Seas of Trees

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
844578242
IRS 990-EZ coverage
2023–2025
Forms available
Form 990-EZ 2025, Form 990-N 2022
Location
Telluride, CO, USA
Phone
9707292029
Rating
84
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Environmental Beautification and Aesthetics

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$18,222
Expenses
$49,439
Assets
$42,161
Liabilities
$0

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

Leadership & pay

10 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • JOANNA KANOW (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)
  • AYLA KANOW (PRESIDENT)
  • DANIEL KANOW (VICE PRESIDENT)
  • SHAI ANN KANOW (VICE PRESIDENT)

People named in this filing

  • JOSEPHINE FLEMING (DIRECTOR)
  • MELANIE MONTOYA (DIRECTOR)
  • SHANNON CLEMENTS (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-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

To plant more trees as a way to help reduce our carbon footprint. We support the regrowth of forests globally to help combat climate change and protect biodiversity in threatened forests around the world. We offer tree planting locally in telluride, Colorado and in Colorado generally. We partner with tree planters in specific areas around the world as well.

What it reported doing in 2025

International programs: sacred valley, peru - the organization partnered with a local community to plant 1,000 native trees, helping restore degraded areas while honoring traditional ecological knowledge. Escola communitaria maramar, brazil - 125 trees and native plants were planted as part of an ecological landscaping and environmental education program. Engaging 82 students, 18 staff and community members, the project fostered hands-on learning, sustainability, and food production for the school's meals.sheela shrestha's memory plantation, nepal - seas of trees supported a memorial reforestation project together with students in tinpiple, tarkeswor municipality, nepal. 500 trees were planted to prevent future landslides and restore degraded slopes.sup asia mangrove planting, cambodia - in kampot province, the organization partnered with sup asia and the trapaeng sangkae community to plant 3,000 mangrove trees. Bugesera, rwanda - the organization along with local community groups provided combined climate education and reforestation projects. The initiative supported the planting of 1,000 agroforestry and fruit trees.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 100% 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. Expenses are high relative to revenue and program spending has declined or grown slowly.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 86
  • Transparency & Controls: 100
  • Sustainability: 24
  • Growth: 0

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 64.3%; rating input score 64

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 51st percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -171.3%; rating input score 5; 5th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.85; rating input score 43; 43rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 66; 66th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 20.2%; rating input score 8; 8th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -7.9% per year; rating input score 0; 31st percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -47.1% per year; rating input score 0; 7th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -21.2% per year; rating input score 0; 10th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 64.3% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: Filed governance answers
  • Accomplishments: 2 filed program accomplishments · $32K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 10 people listed
  • Consistency: 8 of 8 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 3 filing years from 2023 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 — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 5/100.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 43/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 8/100.