The Nurture Nature Center

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
261934794
IRS 990 coverage
2013–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-N 2010
Location
Easton, PA, USA
Phone
6102534432
Rating
83
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Economic Development

Reported finances

Revenue
$1,444,981
Expenses
$1,375,277
Assets
$676,000
Liabilities
$250,003

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

Leadership & pay

3 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • JANE STANLEY (PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • RACHEL HOGAN CARR (SECRETARY & ED): $177,849 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 nurture nature center is a 501(c)(3) public charity that uses science, art and community dialogue to engage people in thinking critically about environmental risk topics in their communities. Nnc (continue on schedule o)maintains a local center in easton Pennsylvania where it pursues this goal and also engages in nationwide research on the subject. Nnc was founded in the wake of major flooding in the region, and a significant focus of its work since inception has been on how to best communicate matters relating to weather and climate hazards generally. Nnc's research and outreach in this area has been disseminated nationwide.

What it reported doing in 2024

Environmental literacy: at its facility in easton, nnc offers a variety of art and other exhibits and activities designed to foster dialogue about environmental issues. Nnc's permanent exhibits include noaa's acclaimed "science on a sphere," for teaching about earth and space science; an sos explorer touch screen kiosk; a large living local mural incorporating 80 environmental talking points, and an interactive watershed exhibit. In addition to these permanent exhibits, nnc holds rotating art shows on environmental themes with presentations by the artists. It also offers speaking events by educators, films, workshops, and classes on a variety of environmental topics, and maintains an urban garden that it uses for educational purposes. Outside its (continue on schedule o)facility, nnc conducts local and regional outreach in many forms, with projects designed to build resilience to environmental hazards. In 2024, nnc worked with six municipalities in the lehigh valley as part of a federally funded create resilience research and community learning hub" project and completed an exhibit of illustrative resilience maps for each municipality along with an online resource about resilience. Nnc also engaged in outreach and education for a create connections project that focused on climate action plans for easton and bethlehem; worked with college interns on additional outreach activities related to those plans; and hosted its 5th annual youth climate summit in april with over 120 students attending. Nnc held a teacher professional development workshop in june, as well, for middle school science teacher partners as part of a science and art integrated curriculum design project (federally grant funded).

Operating model

Revenue model
Grant-funded. 73% of the money available for current operations came from government grants.
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

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Expenses are high relative to revenue and total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 93
  • Transparency & Controls: 79
  • Accountability: 76
  • Sustainability: 38
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 90.6%; rating input score 91
  • Program expense ratio: 95.2%; rating input score 95
  • Fundraising efficiency: $288.39 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 94; 94th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • 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: 66.7%; rating input score 67; 14th 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: 4.8%; rating input score 50; 50th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.49; rating input score 23; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.37; rating input score 21; 21st percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 7.4%; rating input score 46; 46th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 10.4% per year; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 9.9% per year; rating input score 100; 66th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 14.6% per year; rating input score 100; 71st percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 90.6% of revenue deployed · 95.2% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 2 of 3 board members independent · 7 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $1.3M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $178K · 3 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 29 of 29 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 9 filing years from 2013 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • 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.

  • Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 50/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 23/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Other executive compensation review process not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 21/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 46/100.