The Mono Lake Foundation

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
770051124
IRS 990 coverage
2014–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024
Location
Lee Vining, CA, USA
Phone
7606476595
Rating
80
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Public Foundations

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$5,226,688
Expenses
$4,113,833
Assets
$17,747,859
Liabilities
$266,820

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

10 people listed

Highest reported compensation

  • GEOFFREY MCQUILKIN (EXCUTIVE DIRECTOR): $154,128 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

The mono lake foundation (known as the mono lake committee) is a non-profit citizen's group dedicated to protecting and restoring mono lake, its tributary streams, and surrounding lands, educating the public about mono lake and the impacts on the environment of excessive water use, and promoting cooperative solutions that protect mono lake and meet real water needs without transferring environmental problems to other areas.

What it reported doing in 2024

Education: the mono lake committee seeks to share the mono lake story with the general public and a diverse range of schools and community groups. Education programs include interpretive walks and canoe tours at mono lake, bird walks, environmental education for school groups, weekend field seminars, a public information center with exhibits and a film, and the outdoor education center that connects los angeles youth to the source of their water. These programs, which reach thousands of people annually, emphasize personal environmental responsibility through understanding the balance between mono lake's unique ecosystem and humans' need for water.mono lake committee communications provide valuable educational information to the public. The quarterly mono lake newsletter contains detailed information about public policy, natural history, and other items relevant to mono lake and is mailed to the mono lake committee's 16,000 members and given to the public for free. The mono lake committee's website, monolake.org provides a wide range of current news and information about mono lake.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 90% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 99% 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

STRONG - 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 some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 75
  • Transparency & Controls: 75
  • Accountability: 95
  • Sustainability: 78
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 72.9%; rating input score 73
  • Program expense ratio: 87.6%; rating input score 88
  • Fundraising efficiency: $14.74 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 50; 50th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 93.8%; rating input score 94; 20th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • 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: 68.6%; rating input score 69; 18th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 7 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 88
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 21.3%; rating input score 78; 78th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 4.31; rating input score 81; 81st percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.02; rating input score 83; 83rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 3.7%; rating input score 63; 63rd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 8.6% per year; rating input score 100; 59th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 4.5% per year; rating input score 100; 38th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 12.2% per year; rating input score 100; 66th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 72.9% of revenue deployed · 87.6% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 9 of 9 board members independent · 7 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $3.6M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $154K · 10 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 2 contractors listed · $281K reported
  • Consistency: 36 of 37 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 11 filing years from 2014 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 3 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 2 filed related-organization links
  • 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 — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 50/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Other executive compensation review process not reported.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.