Texas Land Trust Council

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
850488313
IRS 990 coverage
2014–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Wimberley, TX, USA
Phone
5129448582
Rating
74
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Land Resources Conservation

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$486,242
Expenses
$359,047
Assets
$1,223,442
Liabilities
$213,019

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

Leadership & pay

13 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • LORI OLSON (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)

Highest reported compensation

  • LORI OLSON (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $160,083 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

To support Texas land trusts and promote land conservation efforts in Texas. Host Texas land conservation conference to educate conservation related professionals and volunteers from across the state.

What it reported doing in 2025

Technical and financial assistance: Texas land trust council seeks to provide relevant conservation related tools, assistance, and information to land trusts, landowners, and the general public. These include the tltc conservation lands inventory database and maps of land trust conserved lands, the Texas land trust council conservation easement guidebook for landowners, information on the Texas land trust coucils website, and the Texas land trust council land trust directory. Texas land trust council also provides technical assistance and outreach to advance farm and ranch land conservation in Texas. In addition, the Texas land trust council transaction matching grants program provides funds to cover costs associated with granting a perpetual conservation easement, to conserve private land for the public good.

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 98% 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: 73
  • Transparency & Controls: 65
  • Accountability: 84
  • Sustainability: 60
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 67.7%; rating input score 68
  • Program expense ratio: 89.6%; rating input score 90
  • Fundraising efficiency: $14.91 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 48; 48th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 92.3%; rating input score 92; 24th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 1 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 17
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • 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: 5 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 62
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • 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: 26.2%; rating input score 77; 77th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 3.41; rating input score 72; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.17; rating input score 18; 18th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 44.6%; rating input score 5; 5th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 6.9% per year; rating input score 100; 58th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 4.9% per year; rating input score 100; 47th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 10.9% per year; rating input score 100; 66th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 67.7% of revenue deployed · 89.6% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 12 of 12 board members independent · 5 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $322K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $160K · 13 people listed · 1 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 23 of 23 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 12 filing years from 2014 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • 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: 2 of 7 not reported.
  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 48/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 5/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 18/100.