The Rattlesnake Conservancy

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
472947628
IRS 990 coverage
2023–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2022, Form 990-N 2017
Location
Jacksonville, FL, USA
Phone
8006905638
Rating
63
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Natural Resources Conservation and Protection

Reported finances

Revenue
$259,714
Expenses
$323,027
Assets
$74,293
Liabilities
$0

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

10 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Tiffany Bright (Executive Director)

Highest reported compensation

  • Sean McKnight (Director of Programs): $57,693 total reported compensation
  • Tiffany Bright (Executive Director): $41,735 total reported compensation
  • Christian Jarboe (Former Conservation Biologist): $33,040 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

To advance the protection of rattlesnakes and their habitat through research and education.

What it reported doing in 2025

Our Training Programs have been taught throughout the United States since 2015 and set the industry standard in safe venomous handling practices. These courses empower individuals and professionals with the skills and equipment they need to respond safely to venomous snakes in their communities through a combination of classroom instruction in important topics like native venomous snake species ecology snake anatomy and physiology reproductive behavior venom toxinology emergency snakebite management captive husbandry and more; with hands on techniques like single hooking double hooking bagging and containing venomous snakes. Examples of people who have taken this course are military personnel land managers first responders zookeepers naturalists gardeners park rangers biologists private herpetoculturists field herpers construction workers physicians environmental consultants photographers and more. We currently offer five unique training courses including the Level 1 Venomous Handling Certification Course the Level 2C: Introduction to Venomous Snakes in Captivity the Level 2R: Introduction to Field and Research Techniques a Continuing Education Certification Course and Venomous Snakes on the Jobsite. These courses support our mission and provide an effective model for human-snake conflict mitigation in areas where snakes are likely to come into contact with people.

Operating model

Revenue model
Other-operating. 71% of the money available for current operations came from other operating revenue.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 95% 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. A relatively small share of voting board members are independent and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 87
  • Transparency & Controls: 73
  • Accountability: 14
  • Sustainability: 18
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 87.8%; rating input score 88
  • Fundraising efficiency: $4.69 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 20; 20th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 85.7%; rating input score 86; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 50%; rating input score 50; 45th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 0%; rating input score 0; 8th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 3 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 33
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: Fail
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -24.4%; rating input score 10; 10th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.23; rating input score 13; 13th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 77; 77th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 46.7%; rating input score 4; 4th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -7.8% per year; rating input score 0; 13th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 28.4% per year; rating input score 100; 92nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 23.1% per year; rating input score 100; 86th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 87.8% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 0 of 5 board members independent · 3 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $284K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $58K · 10 people listed
  • Consistency: 43 of 45 current checks pass · 2 findings to review
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
  • Filing history: 3 filing years from 2023 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 5 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 — Accountability: Independent voting board scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Accountability: Governance controls: 5 of 8 not reported.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Grant itemization coverage scored 50/100.
  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 20/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 10/100.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 13/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 4/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Foreign grants require schedule f did not reconcile in the filed values.