Sedona Wolf Sanctuary

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
921177534
IRS 990 coverage
2025–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2024, Form 990-N 2023
Location
Sedona, AZ, USA
Phone
9283891321
Rating
79
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Wildlife Sanctuary, Refuge

Reported finances

Revenue
$402,592
Expenses
$379,987
Assets
$38,476
Liabilities
$0

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

Leadership & pay

4 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Cynthia Heisch (CEO)

Highest reported compensation

  • Cynthia Heisch (CEO): $64,898 total reported compensation
  • Xavier Douwes (Director-CFO): $43,228 total reported compensation
  • Judy Williams (Director): $16,185 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Wolf and Wolf Dog Rescue. Prevention of animal cruelty. Wolf safe haven and place of refuge. Public education and public awareness of wolves and their situation in the wild. Wolf tours and wolf experiences to educate.

What it reported doing in 2025

Program 2: Guest Experience Operations. The organization operates an educational guest experience program that provides the public with the opportunity to learn about wolves their behavior and their conservation. Activities include guided visits educational presentations and interactive experiences designed to promote awareness and understanding of wolves and their role in the ecosystem. The program also encompasses visitor services scheduling and facility operations necessary to ensure a safe and informative experience. Outreach efforts including marketing social media and online engagement support public education and awareness consistent with the organizations mission. During the year the organization enhanced visitor safety and accessibility by adding sanitation facilities and improving parking infrastructure. The organization also expanded its outreach by developing new public outreach channels and increasing staffing levels to better support guest services and educational programming.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 69% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 99% 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 - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 73
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 86
  • Sustainability: 38
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 81.9%; rating input score 82
  • Program expense ratio: 83%; rating input score 83
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

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; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 6 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 67
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • 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: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 5.6%; rating input score 48; 48th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.1; rating input score 7; 7th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 77; 77th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0.8%; rating input score 34; 34th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: Limited
  • Revenue growth: 80.4% per year; rating input score 100; 99th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 83.2% per year; rating input score 100; 98th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 81.9% of revenue deployed · 83% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 3 of 3 board members independent · 6 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $315K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $65K · 4 people listed
  • Consistency: 40 of 40 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 1 filing year from 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 4 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 2 filed related-organization links
  • 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: 2 of 8 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 7/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 48/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 34/100.