Teaching Responsible Earth Education TREE

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
721310276
IRS 990 coverage
2019–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
New Orleans, LA, USA
Phone
5045259020
Rating
82
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Environmental Education and Outdoor Survival Programs

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$460,119
Expenses
$592,594
Assets
$121,038
Liabilities
$14,474

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

Leadership & pay

10 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Stephen Smith (President)
  • Andrew Liles (Past President)

People named in this filing

  • Stephen Smith (President)
  • Andrew Liles (Past President)
  • Heather Szarpy (Executive Dir.)

Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.

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

Overview

Mission

T.R.E.E.'s mission is to educate children and adults about the life science processes that govern our planet, to inspire them to appreciate the natural world, and to motivate them to protect it. The mission is accomplished by conducting comprehensive academic and experiential education programs.

What it reported doing in 2024

Sunship III occurs over 3 days and 2 nights for 7th graders, deepening their life science understanding and focus on implications of decisions that affect their personal lives and their communities. To start, each 7th grader receives enough solarians rather than dollars, to pay for their use of necessary resources like water, food, and electricity. They keep a checkbook which they must balance each day as they decide how to best spend their resources. They have tough decisions to make regarding desires rather than needs; like using a hair dryer or ordering the works on their pizza, especially when they realize how much these items actually cost to use, make and transport to the user. The follow-through component connects youth to sustainability leaders in the areas where they live. They pledge to interview at least one person to find out how they practice living and working more lightly on the Earth. Sunship III, like each of T.R.E.E.s programs, addresses 3 main needs. One is that New Orleans area children need educational opportunities that achieve superior levels of learning in science. Second, children need to understand how their environment functions, and that it is interconnected to all life. Third, students need to feel empowered, which is necessary for them to be confident that they can make a difference in the world. There were 193 students, 16 teachers and 17 parent chaperones who participated in Sunship III over the school year.

Operating model

Revenue model
Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
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 expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 85
  • Transparency & Controls: 85
  • Accountability: 88
  • Sustainability: 19
  • Growth: 80

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 81.7%; rating input score 82
  • Fundraising efficiency: $5.33 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 23; 23rd percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 90.9%; rating input score 91; 13th 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: 5 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 71
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • 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: -28.8%; rating input score 10; 10th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.2; rating input score 11; 11th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.12; rating input score 25; 25th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 69; 69th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 17.9% per year; rating input score 100; 82nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 8.8% per year; rating input score 100; 68th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -0.3% per year; rating input score 0; 23rd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 81.7% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 8 of 8 board members independent · 5 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 5 filed program accomplishments · $484K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 10 people listed
  • Consistency: 23 of 24 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 5 filing years from 2019 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: Resolved incoming and outgoing counterparties from filed money flows.
  • 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 — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 23/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 10/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 11/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 25/100.