Skagit Watershed Council

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
911931237
IRS 990 coverage
2017–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Mount Vernon, WA, USA
Rating
78
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Standard
Sector
Management & Technical Assistance

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$363,757
Expenses
$380,310
Assets
$271,275
Liabilities
$56,745

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

10 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • AUNDREA N MCBRIDE (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)

Highest reported compensation

  • AUNDREA N MCBRIDE (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $103,647 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Our mission is to understand, protect and restore the productivity of healthy ecosystems to support sustainable fisheries. Designated lead entity under Washington state legislation eshb 2496, a salmon recovery planning act, for the skagit and samish watersheds

What it reported doing in 2024

Riparian planning the council has had a major focus on growing the watersheds focus on planting and maintaining streamside vegetation. The council maintains a riparian working group, email listserve, north sound riparian conference, riparian actions geodatabase, annual reporting, technical assessment, and access to funding. Weve also been working with state and local agencies on improving incentive programs for expanding voluntary landowner participation.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 98% 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

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Program spending has declined or grown slowly and expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 70
  • Transparency & Controls: 93
  • Accountability: 90
  • Sustainability: 27
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 70.1%; rating input score 70
  • Program expense ratio: 66.5%; rating input score 67
  • Fundraising efficiency: $64.09 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 80; 80th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 91.7%; rating input score 92; 19th 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; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 6 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 75
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -4.6%; rating input score 30; 30th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.71; rating input score 32; 32nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.21; rating input score 19; 19th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 27.3%; rating input score 13; 13th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -0.3% per year; rating input score 0; 29th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 1.1% per year; rating input score 100; 30th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 1.4% per year; rating input score 100; 31st percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 70.1% of revenue deployed · 66.5% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 9 of 9 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $253K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $104K · 10 people listed
  • Consistency: 28 of 29 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 7 filing years from 2017 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • 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 — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 30/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 32/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 13/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 19/100.