The American Fern Society
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 056016227
- IRS 990-EZ coverage
- 2019–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990-EZ 2024
- Location
- Washington, DC, USA
- Phone
- 2026330914
- Rating
- 83
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $44,552
- Expenses
- $42,236
- Assets
- $209,986
- Liabilities
- $0
Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
12 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- WESTON TESTO (PRESIDENT)
- JOSHUA P DER LEFT 2024 (PRESIDENT)
People named in this filing
- WESTON TESTO (PRESIDENT)
- JORDAN METZGAR (SECRETARY)
- ERIC SCHUETTPELZ (TREASURER)
Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.
Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
To foster an interest in ferns. Publishes results of original research on ferns in "american fern journal". Publishes general information on ferns in "fiddlehead forum". Maintains a spore exchange.
What it reported doing in 2024
Quarterly publication of both the peer-reviewed "american fern journal and the "fiddlehead forum" membership newsletter.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Earned-program. 63% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The filing allocates 94% 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. Program spending has declined or grown slowly and expenses are high relative to revenue.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 87
- Transparency & Controls: 82
- Sustainability: 65
- Growth: 60
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 86%; rating input score 86
- Program expense ratio: 88.5%; rating input score 89
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Limited
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 5.2%; rating input score 55; 55th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 4.97; rating input score 84; 84th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 68; 68th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 56; 56th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: -2.5% per year; rating input score 0; 41st percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 4.6% per year; rating input score 100; 70th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 8.7% per year; rating input score 100; 69th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 86% of revenue deployed · 88.5% of spending went to programs
- Governance: Filed governance answers
- Accomplishments: 1 filed program accomplishment · $37K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 12 people listed
- Consistency: 9 of 9 current checks pass
- Schedules: 1 filed schedules
- Filing history: 6 filing years from 2019 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- 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 — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 55/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 56/100.