Sustainable Travel International

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
371461679
IRS 990 coverage
2012–2016
Forms available
Form 990 2016
Location
Seattle, WA, USA
Phone
9176775731
Rating
55
Verdict
MIXED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Environmental Quality, Protection, and Beautification N.E.C.

Reported finances

Revenue
$1,160,168
Expenses
$1,100,480
Assets
$419,186
Liabilities
$505,512

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2016. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

12 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • GEOFFREY BOLAN (CEO / VICE PRESIDENT)
  • BRIAN T MULLIS (BOARD MEMBER / FORMER CEO)
  • LOUISE TWINING-WARD (PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • LOUISE TWINING-WARD (PRESIDENT): $126,001 total reported compensation
  • BRIAN T MULLIS (BOARD MEMBER / FORMER CEO): $111,215 total reported compensation
  • GEOFFREY BOLAN (CEO / VICE PRESIDENT): $98,307 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2016. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Sustainable travel international's mission is to educate travel and tourism providers about minimizing their ecological, social and cultural impacts while providing economic benefits to local communities, host countries and travel and tourism providers who are committed to environmentally sustainable business practices.

What it reported doing in 2016

Assessment & inclusive planning - sti's assessment activities are designed to build awareness of the need to protect the environment and cultural heritage, conserve resources, and benefit local communities and the public; and educate stakeholders about how to adhere to environmentally and socially responsible best practice at a destination level.sti's inclusive planning activities are linked with its assessment activities. Both are designed to build awareness of the need to protect the environment and cultural heritage, conserve resources, and benefit local communities and the public; and to educate stakeholders from government, private sector, civil society, and local communities about how to adhere to environmentally and socially responsible best practice at a destination level.marketing ("outreach") - sti provides outreach services for consumers, tourism providers, and destinations in order to help support environmentally responsible and sustainable travel and tourism choices and activities. This includes sti helping tourism providers and destinations incorporate environment / sustainability best practice messaging into their branding and communications strategies, outreach efforts and marketing collateral in order to increase and develop consumer demand and awareness of sustainable / environmental business practices. Sti activities include telling stories of how sustainable travel and tourism improves livelihoods and protects the environmental, social, cultural fabric of destinations through testimonials from and public commitments made by key stakeholders and decision makers in destinations that are targeted toward the general public.education networks - the sustainable travel leadership network (stln) and the sustainable destination leadership network (sdln) are sti's educational networks. The networks were established to educate participating tourism providers and destinations about how to better integrate financially viable, environmentally and socially responsible practices into their operational practices. The networks only include tourism providers and destinations that are committed to achieving the highest levels of sustainability to learn from one another through cross-sectorial peer to peer interchange, and to incubate sustainability strategies, standards, and best practices that benefit the destinations and communities that participant networks serve.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 75% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
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

MIXED - Most voting board members are independent. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 51
  • Transparency & Controls: 55
  • Accountability: 76
  • Sustainability: 33
  • Growth: 20

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 54.6%; rating input score 55
  • Program expense ratio: 57.6%; rating input score 58
  • Fundraising efficiency: $1.98 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 6; 6th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Scored; rating input score 0
  • Grant itemization coverage: Scored; rating input score 0
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 75%; rating input score 75; 14th 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: 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: 5.1%; rating input score 56; 56th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.38; rating input score 20; 20th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 1.21; rating input score 5; 5th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 30.8%; rating input score 5; 5th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -17.8% per year; rating input score 0; 6th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -0.6% per year; rating input score 0; 25th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 3.3% per year; rating input score 100; 45th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 54.6% of revenue deployed · 57.6% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 9 of 12 board members independent · 7 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $634K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $126K · 12 people listed
  • Consistency: 28 of 28 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors and foreign activity
  • Filing history: 5 filing years from 2012 to 2016
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 4 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
  • 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.
  • Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 55/100.
  • High — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight scored 0/100.
  • High — Transparency & Controls: Grant itemization coverage scored 0/100.
  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Program expense ratio scored 58/100.
  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 6/100.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 20/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
  • Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 56/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 5/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 5/100.