Sempervirens Fund

What it reported doing in 2024

Land stewardship sempervirens fund owns directly or through conservation easement more than 12,000 acres of land. Permanently protecting redwood forests ensures that the properties where redwoods thrive are set aside to keep forests intact and preserved for generations to come. We work across santa cruz mountain landscapes, and in collaboration with neighbors and regional partners, to safeguard the health of trees, habitats, waterways, and wildlife. Please continue to schedule o for further description of this work. For each property in our care, we generate a stewardship plan which gives us, our partners, and our neighbors clarity and guidance about the resources we are preserving and the natural features we are restoring. Active land management activities include wildfire resiliency projects such as establishing shaded fuel breaks and prescribed burning programs; forest health projects, including removing debris, maintaining trails, clearing invasive plants, and planting new seedlings; and research projects such as wildlife monitoring, endangered species reclamation, traditional indigenous cultural surveys, and much more. After significant disturbances, such as wildfire or flooding, restoration efforts include debris clean up, culvert replacement, hazard tree removal, waterway restoration, and fuel reduction. In recent years, our stewardship work has included milestone projects like the removal of a dam on mill creek in san vicente redwoods restoring stream flow, which led to the return of coho salmon to the watershed for the first time in generations; to forest restoration projects on multiple properties that prioritize supporting second-growth redwoods with the best opportunities to grow larger, more quickly, and to establish old-growth characteristics that ensure redwood resiliency. Now more than ever we depend on funding from our donors to help us care for redwood forests, to monitor their health, conserve wildlife, and improve waterways, keeping them healthy, thriving, and resilient, for generations to come. Learn more: sempervirens.org/stewardship

Financial Efficiency

• Mission deployment rate: 50.1%; rating input score 50
• Program expense ratio: 66.9%; rating input score 67
• Fundraising efficiency: $6.14 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 25; 25th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

• Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
• Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
  • Compensation committee: Pass
  • 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: Limited
• Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
• Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

• Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 66th 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: 29.6%; rating input score 88; 88th percentile among comparable filings
• Total-asset coverage ratio: 5.29; rating input score 85; 85th percentile among comparable filings
• Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.06; rating input score 81; 81st percentile among comparable filings
• Officer compensation ratio: 22.7%; rating input score 3; 3rd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

• Program expense growth: 7.7% per year; rating input score 100; 60th percentile among comparable filings
• Revenue growth: 7.4% per year; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
• Asset growth: 4.6% per year; rating input score 100; 33rd percentile among comparable filings