The Gorilla Foundation
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 942386151
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2014–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Woodside, CA, USA
- Phone
- 6502166450
- Rating
- 75
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $-339,439
- Expenses
- $1,039,572
- Assets
- $5,808,086
- Liabilities
- $41,000
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
7 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Francine Patterson (President & CEO)
Highest reported compensation
- Christa Nunes (Director & CSO): $83,200 total reported compensation
- Gary Stanley (COO): $17,902 total reported compensation
- Francine Patterson (President & CEO): $10,536 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
To bring interspecies communication to the public, in order to save gorillas from extinction, and inspire our children to create a sustainable future for all great apes.
What it reported doing in 2024
Conservation: (aka: KokoProtects)In FYE2025 we expanded our partnership with the Community-Based Biosynergy Management Foundation in Cameroon to focus on protecting the critically endangered Cross-River Gorilla subspecies along the CameroonNigeria border. This project integrates empathy-building via the Koko Signs app with a community-based monitoring program using camera traps to generate a more accurate population census. Earlier in the year, we concentrated on conservation education in Eastern Cameroon with communities living near Western Lowland Gorilla habitats. We also began introducing more accurate pre/post app surveys to measure the impact of our Koko-inspired educational materials.The overarching goal is to develop replicable, Koko-enriched conservation methods that can help protect all four gorilla subspecies from extinction.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 99% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- 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. The filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 84
- Transparency & Controls: 75
- Accountability: 81
- Sustainability: 25
- Growth: 20
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
- Program expense ratio: 73%; rating input score 73
- Fundraising efficiency: $4.77 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 38; 38th 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: 0 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 0
- Claims monitoring procedures: Fail
- Requires narrative reports: Fail
- Conducts field audits: Fail
- May suspend future funding: Fail
- Requires financial reports: Fail
- Conducts site visits: Fail
- Requires grant agreements: Fail
- May require repayment: Fail
- Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 80th percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 66.7%; rating input score 67; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 9 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 100
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: Pass
- Other executive compensation review process: Pass
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -406.3%; rating input score 9; 9th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 5.59; rating input score 51; 51st percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.01; rating input score 29; 29th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 10.7%; rating input score 16; 16th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: -9.7% per year; rating input score 0; 29th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: -4.5% per year; rating input score 0; 45th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 12.8% per year; rating input score 100; 84th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 73% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 4 of 6 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $759K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $83K · 7 people listed
- Consistency: 32 of 32 current checks pass
- Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors and foreign activity
- Filing history: 11 filing years from 2014 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 3 filed money-flow records
- 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 — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight: 8 of 8 not reported.
- Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 38/100.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 9/100.
- High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
- High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 51/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 16/100.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 29/100.