Sunflower Star Laboratory
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 873957769
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2024–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2023, Form 990-N 2023
- Location
- Moss Landing, CA, United States
- Phone
- 5107087622
- Rating
- 74
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Natural Resources Conservation and Protection
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $299,106
- Expenses
- $112,103
- Assets
- $212,378
- Liabilities
- $685
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
8 people listed
Highest reported compensation
- Ashley Kidd (Project Mgr.): $26,085 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Sunflower Star Laboratory leads research and conservation to recover the sunflower star, building kelp forest resilience with our communities. We are coordinating with the Pycnopodia Recovery Work Group, a group of scientists formed to develop recovery management strategies, to achieve this mission in support of sunflower star recovery in areas where sunflower stars are functionally extinct. Our team is composed of an experienced, interdisciplinary group of researchers, marine conservation professionals, and managers passionate about the restoration of sunflower stars. “Earth as an ecosystem stands out in the all of the universe. There's no place that we know about that can support life as we know it, not even our sister planet, Mars, where we might set up housekeeping someday, but at great effort and trouble we have to recreate the things we take for granted here.” — Sylvia Earle...
What it reported doing in 2024
Funded intern at minorities in aquaculture. Ssl is committed to growing, next generation of echinoderm aquaculture experts by partnering with institutions, donors & specialists to create interships to advance our mission.
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 92% 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.
- Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.
The verdict
SUPPORTED - The filed numbers largely add up and a large share of total spending goes to programs. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 61
- Transparency & Controls: 94
- Accountability: 72
- Sustainability: 70
- Growth: 60
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 37.2%; rating input score 37
- Program expense ratio: 94.3%; rating input score 94
- Fundraising efficiency: $78.23 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 83; 83rd percentile among comparable filings
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: 100%; rating input score 100; 80th percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 87.5%; rating input score 88; 24th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 4 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 50
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Fail
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Other executive compensation review process: Fail
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Missing
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 62.5%; rating input score 95; 95th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.89; rating input score 58; 58th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 52; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 23.3%; rating input score 16; 16th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: Limited
- Revenue growth: 116.6% per year; rating input score 100; 99th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 154% per year; rating input score 100; 100th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 1 operating location identified
- Where the money goes: 37.2% of revenue deployed · 94.3% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 7 of 8 board members independent · 4 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $106K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $26K · 8 people listed
- Consistency: 20 of 20 current checks pass
- Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 3 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 1 filed related-organization link
- 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: Mission deployment rate scored 37/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 7 not reported.
- Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 58/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 16/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 52/100.