Team Wilderness Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
812088743
IRS 990 coverage
2021–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2020, Form 990-N 2019
Location
Jersey City, NJ, USA
Phone
2013554010
Rating
78
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Youth Development N.E.C.

Reported finances

Revenue
$556,482
Expenses
$525,923
Assets
$41,735
Liabilities
$1,358

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

14 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Juan Melli (President)
  • Jennie Pu (Vice President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Stephen Cunningham (Executive Dir.): $98,884 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Our mission is to provide youth from urban areas with transformative outdoor experiences that cultivate a deep connection with nature while promoting personal and academic growth and overall well-being. To grow teamwork, leadership, and character within our urban youth through wilderness excursions.

What it reported doing in 2025

Conducted various youth teamwork, leadership and character building programs through wilderness excursions. These programs included Summer Treks Eight days of empowering outdoor character building, Wilderness Club afterschool program with weekend adventures, Summer Outdoor Series students spend 2 weeks bonding while honing valuable team-building and leadership skills, Compass Project dedicated coaches help students navigate their academic challenges, and North Star Project Our licensed social worker provides one-on-one counseling supporting mental health and well being of youth. These sessions are designed to help youth navigate life's challenges, build coping strategies, and improve overall mental health.

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

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 70
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 82
  • Sustainability: 31
  • Growth: 80

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 74.6%; rating input score 75
  • Program expense ratio: 78.9%; rating input score 79
  • Fundraising efficiency: $6.39 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 22; 22nd 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; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 4 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 57
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • 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: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 5.5%; rating input score 46; 46th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.08; rating input score 5; 5th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.03; rating input score 48; 48th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 18.8%; rating input score 18; 18th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 21.6% per year; rating input score 100; 81st percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 25.3% per year; rating input score 100; 88th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -2.3% per year; rating input score 0; 10th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 74.6% of revenue deployed · 78.9% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 14 of 14 board members independent · 4 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $415K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $99K · 14 people listed
  • Consistency: 26 of 26 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 5 filing years from 2021 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 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.

Key Signals

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

  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 22/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 5/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 46/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 18/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 48/100.