Tompkins Conservation

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
943363675
IRS 990 coverage
2014–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
San Francisco, CA, USA
Phone
4152299339
Rating
68
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Land Resources Conservation

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$876,691
Expenses
$4,305,965
Assets
$8,220,159
Liabilities
$811

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

Leadership & pay

13 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • DEBRA B RYKER (SECRETARY/TREASURER/VICE PRESIDENT)
  • ESTHER LI (VICE PRESIDENT/CONTROLLER)
  • KRISTINE M TOMPKINS (PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • DEBRA B RYKER (SECRETARY/TREASURER/VICE PRESIDENT): $379,814 total reported compensation
  • ESTHER LI (VICE PRESIDENT/CONTROLLER): $362,797 total reported compensation
  • CAROLYN MCCARTHY (GLOBAL COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR): $177,886 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

See schedule o tompkins conservation is dedicated to protecting and restoring wildland ecosystems and biodiversity in chile, argentina and the united states. As a nonprofit organization, tompkins conservation's goal is to preserve intact ecosystems, to support acquisition and protection of privately owned wildlands, and ultimately to return its landholdings to the public domain for permanent protection in the form of national parks or reserves.

What it reported doing in 2025

Provided support for fundraising and development efforts of the organization in argentina to raise funds for protecting habitat and rewilding programs; grants to suport rewilding projects to help diminished wildlife populations return to abundance, and reintroducing missing native species to reassemble whole and healthy natural communities in the united states; and distribution of books as tools to educate the general public on various environmental issues and on the creation of national parks as a way to preserve ecosystems and a recovery process of thereatened species.

Operating model

Revenue model
Investment-supported. 68% of the money available for current operations came from recurring investment income.
Distribution model
Grant intermediary. The nonprofit sent 97% of its reported program spending out as grants.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Few specific pay-setting methods are documented in the filing; unanswered boxes are not proof of absence and a relatively small share of total spending goes to programs.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 73
  • Transparency & Controls: 68
  • Accountability: 76
  • Sustainability: 29
  • Growth: 40

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 52.3%; rating input score 52
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 93.3%; rating input score 93; 24th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 0 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 0
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Missing
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 99.9%; rating input score 100; 55th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 90%; rating input score 90; 26th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 5 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 56
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • 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: -391.2%; rating input score 0; 0th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.91; rating input score 63; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 76; 76th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 24%; rating input score 12; 12th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 5.9% per year; rating input score 100; 41st percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: Limited
  • Asset growth: -9.2% per year; rating input score 0; 4th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 52.3% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 9 of 10 board members independent · 5 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $2.3M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $380K · 13 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 1 contractor listed · $118K reported
  • Consistency: 32 of 32 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 7 filing years from 2014 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 8 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 4 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.
  • Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • High — Transparency & Controls: Pay-setting controls scored 0/100.
  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Program expense ratio scored 52/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 8 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 12/100.