The Marie Selby Botanical Gardens Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 591848965
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2010–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Sarasota, FL, USA
- Phone
- 9413665731
- Rating
- 78
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Botanical Gardens, Arboreta and Botanical Organizations
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $17,573,787
- Expenses
- $14,852,725
- Assets
- $110,755,908
- Liabilities
- $43,138,410
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
29 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Jennifer Rominiecki (President & CEO)
Highest reported compensation
- Jennifer Rominiecki (President & CEO): $509,005 total reported compensation
- Crystal Bailey (COO & General Counsel): $250,783 total reported compensation
- Michael McLaughlin (Highest Compensated Employee): $158,886 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 provide bayfront sanctuaries connecting people with air plants of the world, native nature, and our regional history.
What it reported doing in 2024
Marie Selby Botanical Gardens provides 45 acres of bayfront sanctuaries connecting people with air plants of the world, native nature, and our regional history. Established by forward thinking women of their time, Selby Gardens is composed of the 15- acre Downtown Sarasota campus and the 30-acre Historic Spanish Point campus in the Osprey area of Sarasota County, Florida. The Downtown Campus on Sarasota Bay is the only botanical garden in the world dedicated to the display and study of epiphytic orchids, bromeliads, gesneriads and ferns, and other tropical plants. There is a significant focus on botany, horticulture, education, historical preservation, and the environment. The Historic Spanish Point (HSP) Campus is located less than 10 miles south along Little Sarasota Bay. The HSP Campus, one of the largest preserves showcasing native Florida plants that is interpreted for and open to the public, celebrates an archaeological record that encompasses approximately 5,000 years of Florida History.
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.
- Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.
The verdict
SUPPORTED - 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 reported officer compensation is a large share of total spending, which may reflect staffing concentration.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 68
- Transparency & Controls: 74
- Accountability: 100
- Sustainability: 69
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 68.2%; rating input score 68
- Program expense ratio: 78.3%; rating input score 78
- Fundraising efficiency: $8.92 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 35; 35th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 2 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 33
- Compensation committee: Missing
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
- Written employment contract: Pass
- 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; 66th 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: 15.5%; rating input score 77; 77th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 7.46; rating input score 89; 89th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.39; rating input score 38; 38th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 9.8%; rating input score 21; 21st percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 11.3% per year; rating input score 100; 75th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 14.2% per year; rating input score 100; 85th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 19.1% per year; rating input score 100; 88th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 68.2% of revenue deployed · 78.3% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 21 of 21 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $11.6M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $509K · 29 people listed · 2 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 3 contractors listed · $622K reported
- Consistency: 32 of 32 current checks pass
- Schedules: 9 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
- Filing history: 15 filing years from 2010 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 7 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 1 filed related-organization link
- 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.
- Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 35/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 21/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 38/100.