Swan Valley Connections

What it reported doing in 2025

Wildlife & aquatics: located in the heart of one of the last remaining wild and intact landscapes in north america hosting its full complement of native fish and wildlife species, svc's vision is that through exemplary stewardship, the swan watershed and adjacent landscapes will remain wild, resilient places where all people are connected to the natural world. Swan valley bear resources: svc is a collaborative partner in swan valley bear resources (svbr), whose mission is to offer community resources to promote coexistence between people and bears. Svc partners with the u.s. Forest service (usfs), Montana fish wildlife & parks (fwp), u.s. Fish & wildlife service (usfws), Montana department of natural resources and conservation (dnrc), volunteers, and community members in pursuit of its mission. Svc staff help reduce bear conflicts by offering private property consultations, advice for landowners to minimize bear attractants, a bear-resistant container loaner program, assistance with temporary and permanent electric fencing projects to contain bear attractants, educational events, and outreach. Since its inception, svbr has distributed 530 bear resistant trash containers and built 67 permanent electric fences for local businesses and residents. In 2025, svbr hosted or attended 25 educational outreach events to promote bear awareness and ways to reduce human/bear conflicts in the swan valley, reaching over 1,400 people. Svbr publishes swan valley bear news, an annual community newsletter article that highlights current events relating to bears, as well as a monthly bear awareness column in the bigfork eagle, reaching over 5,700 readers.svc is the point of contact locally to report bear incidents, problems, and conflicts and works to help resolve issues or relay information to appropriate management experts. Visitors at the svc visitor center can purchase bear pepper spray and obtain a variety of printed information and educational materials about living and recreating safely in bear country. The visitor center provides information about living with all species of wildlife.rare carnivore monitoring: svc, in partnership with the u.s. Forest service, rocky mountain research station, and bureau of land management worked to systematically survey parts the southwest crown of the continent ecosystem (sw crown) for rare forest carnivores, particularly focusing on lynx, and wolverine in 2025 as part of a long-term monitoring and research effort that began in 2012. Maintaining or restoring a healthy landscape that supports these species is a primary focus of national forest management in the sw crown and the endangered species act. As such, forest managers consider the impacts to these species before implementing any major forest management, including building or removing roads, fuels reduction, and forest restoration projects. The primary objective of monitoring forest carnivores in the sw crown is to facilitate and coordinate the adaptive management of wolverines and canada lynx by agency managers across the landscape. This monitoring project was designed to provide a baseline of the current distribution of the focal species in the sw crown and to allow for tracking changes in that distribution over time. The sw crown carnivore project utilizes non-invasive survey methods to maximize the ability to detect multiple species across a large landscape in an efficient and cost-effective manner. Svc conducts snow track surveys and used dna collection methods (hair snares and bait stations) developed by researchers with the usfs rocky mountain research station.native fish: svc coordinates and hosts an annual swan valley native fish committee meeting, which is a collaborative group of partners from Montana fwp, u.s. Geological survey, Montana dnrc, u.s. Forest service, the university of Montana, flathead biological station, u.s. Fish and wildlife service, mpg ranch, and private citizens. The native fish subcommittee works to inform the conservat

Financial Efficiency

• Mission deployment rate: 55.1%; rating input score 55
• Program expense ratio: 71.2%; rating input score 71
• Fundraising efficiency: $16.91 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 51; 51st percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

• Consistency checks: 93.3%; rating input score 93; 24th percentile among comparable filings
• Pay-setting controls: Limited
• Foreign activity oversight: Limited
• Grant itemization coverage: 94.8%; rating input score 95; 45th percentile among comparable filings
• Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
• Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

• Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th 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: 24.3%; rating input score 77; 77th percentile among comparable filings
• Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.56; rating input score 57; 57th percentile among comparable filings
• Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.1; rating input score 35; 35th percentile among comparable filings
• Officer compensation ratio: 15.1%; rating input score 24; 24th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

• Program expense growth: 5.3% per year; rating input score 100; 38th percentile among comparable filings
• Revenue growth: 7.6% per year; rating input score 100; 51st percentile among comparable filings
• Asset growth: 8.1% per year; rating input score 100; 49th percentile among comparable filings