Spring of Evolution Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
262162310
IRS 990 coverage
2011–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Acton, CA, USA
Phone
6614508191
Rating
84
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Youth Development Programs

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$3,207,689
Expenses
$3,295,595
Assets
$2,126,791
Liabilities
$2,843,201

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

Leadership & pay

13 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • TEO ALFERO (CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER)
  • AMANDA BEER (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)

Highest reported compensation

  • AMANDA BEER (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $130,279 total reported compensation
  • CLARALYNN SCHNELL (DIRECTOR OF FINANCE): $89,331 total reported compensation
  • TEO ALFERO (CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER): $59,490 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Providing animal rescue & wildfire prevention, at-risk youth education & empowerment, and community empowerment environmental awareness & sustainability.

What it reported doing in 2024

Community engagement and empowerment - as the global innovator in facilitating the restorative human-animal relationship. We engage generations of people to connect with their inner resilience and inherent role in the ecosystem through an integrative, non-traditional program we created called wolf therapy. Embodying personal power, self-awareness, and self-regulation, this program taps into our ancestral connection with wolves to find our unique pack howls. We stand as allies to wolves in the wild as we bridge essential conversation around human empowerment and the natural world, creating global impact. During july 2024 through june 2025 we held 33 private visits, 34 semi-private visits and 6 community events, serving over 1,700 people. These visits allow us to offer a (continued on sch. O) unique experience for visitors, to both immerse themselves in nature and learn the resilience that the wolves' stories tell.

Operating model

Revenue model
Grant-funded. 79% of the money available for current operations came from government grants.
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. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 79
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 91
  • Sustainability: 23
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 84.3%; rating input score 84
  • Program expense ratio: 81.8%; rating input score 82
  • Fundraising efficiency: $13.87 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 48; 48th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd 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: 7 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 78
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Fail
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -2.7%; rating input score 25; 25th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.65; rating input score 23; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 1.34; rating input score 2; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 8.5%; rating input score 35; 35th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 31.1% per year; rating input score 100; 93rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 19.9% per year; rating input score 100; 88th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 16.7% per year; rating input score 100; 78th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 84.3% of revenue deployed · 81.8% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 7 of 7 board members independent · 7 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $2.7M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $130K · 13 people listed
  • Consistency: 32 of 32 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 13 filing years from 2011 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 9 filed money-flow records
  • 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.

  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 48/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 9 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 25/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 23/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 2/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 35/100.