Tune In To Nature Org
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 205904919
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2015–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025
- Location
- Asheville, NC, USA
- Phone
- 2064940275
- Rating
- 77
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Wildlife Preservation, Protection
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $1,131,715
- Expenses
- $1,155,632
- Assets
- $934,063
- Liabilities
- $72,781
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
13 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Nick Bayard (Executive Director)
- Julianne Lamsek (President)
- Chun T Wright (Vice President)
Highest reported compensation
- Nick Bayard (Executive Director): $158,495 total reported compensation
- Jessica Frantz (Development Director): $132,753 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Birds Connect us with the joy and wonder of nature. By telling vivid, sound-rich stories about birds and the challenges they face, BirdNote inspires listeners to care about the natural world and take steps to protect it.
What it reported doing in 2025
BirdNote inspires people to care about the natural world and take steps to protect it. BirdNotes beloved flagship 2-minute daily show, BirdNote Daily, continues to be one of the most popular public radio shows in North America (broadcast on over 360 stations) and within the top 1% of all podcasts by number of downloads. The Spanish language versions of that show, BirdNote en Espanol, continues to gain radio and podcast audiences throughout the Americas. BirdNotes longform podcast, Bring Birds Back, is among the top global nature podcasts in the world, covering the most pressing issues in bird conservation and the ways we can all help make a better world for birds and people through simple, everyday actions. BirdNotes 3-year campaign to inspire a million people to take action to help birds by 2027 showed remarkable impact in 2026. A national impact survey of 2,850 radio listeners conducted by a third party polling organization revealed that since its first broadcast, BirdNotes public radio shows have inspired between 9.25 and 12.75 million people to take action to help birds, with between 4.25 and 6.4 million of those people taking action during the previous 18 months alone. This demonstrates that BirdNotes shows are not only beloved, but that they have also been one of the most effective interventions for bird conservation of the past 20 years
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 95% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- 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.
The verdict
SUPPORTED - The filed numbers largely add up and a large share of available resources goes toward mission work. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 62
- Transparency & Controls: 92
- Accountability: 90
- Sustainability: 28
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 68.3%; rating input score 68
- Program expense ratio: 66.6%; rating input score 67
- Fundraising efficiency: $5.02 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 16; 16th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: Limited
- 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; 64th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 6 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 75
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: Fail
- Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Fail
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -2.1%; rating input score 25; 25th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.81; rating input score 37; 37th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.08; rating input score 38; 38th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 25.2%; rating input score 11; 11th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 13.2% per year; rating input score 100; 67th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 6.6% per year; rating input score 100; 46th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 4.5% per year; rating input score 100; 33rd percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 68.3% of revenue deployed · 66.6% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 7 of 7 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $769K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $158K · 13 people listed
- Consistency: 25 of 25 current checks pass
- Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 11 filing years from 2015 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 2 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 — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 16/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 8 not reported.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 25/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 37/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 11/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 38/100.