Water Stewardship Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
262623472
IRS 990 coverage
2011–2015
Forms available
Form 990 2015, Form 990-EZ 2009
Location
Annapolis, MD, USA
Phone
4104904661
Rating
72
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Environmental Education and Outdoor Survival Programs

Reported finances

Revenue
$179,057
Expenses
$265,166
Assets
$0
Liabilities
$0

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2015. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

6 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • EVA M CHRISTENSEN (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)

Highest reported compensation

  • EVA M CHRISTENSEN (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $108,810 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2015. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Water stewardship, inc. (wsi) is an independent science-based nonprofit whose mission is to strengthen private and public sector efforts to reduce nutrient and sediment pollution of rivers, lakes and coastal waters. Wsi strives to improve water quality while also maintaining and enhancing agricultural profitability.agricultural operations are a major contributor to poor water quality. Water stewardship provides services to strengthen private and public sector efforts to reduce nutrient and sediment pollution of rivers, lakes and coastal waters. Water stewardship has provided outreach services mostly to small-medium sized farmers in assessing the current level of best-management practice implementation and developing voluntary continuous improvement plans to reduce farm water quality impacts. Water stewardship also provides independent policy advice particularly with respect to quantifying the efficiencies of best-management practices.

What it reported doing in 2015

During fy 2016 water stewardship inc (wsi) completed assessments for 90 farms for best management practice conservation efforts and cbpa compliance, and developed continuous improvement plans for the same. The organization also completed work on two international water quality projects. All grant funded projects were completed by december 31,2015 and the offices were closed.water stewardship completed projects with the eastern shore soil and water conservation district (esswcd), the national fish and wildlife foundation (nfwf), and aecom during the final year. Work with the esswcd entailed assessing 90 farms on the eastern shore of Virginia for compliance with cbpa, verification of bmps, and recommendations on how to improve water quality protection. The nfwf project entailed installing a temporary employee into the West Virginia nrcs office to augment soil conservationist staff and assist local farmers with partaking in conservation practices. The aecom project was assessment and advice on water quality practices in 2 regions of china.

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 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. The filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 87
  • Transparency & Controls: 75
  • Accountability: 74
  • Sustainability: 3
  • Growth: 0

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 70.8%; rating input score 71
  • Fundraising efficiency: $24.3 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 66; 66th 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: Scored; rating input score 0
  • Grant itemization coverage: 99.1%; rating input score 99; 56th 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: 3 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 38
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -48.1%; rating input score 5; 5th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0; rating input score 1; 1st percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: Limited
  • Officer compensation ratio: 41%; rating input score 6; 6th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -36.6% per year; rating input score 0; 6th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -8.8% per year; rating input score 0; 14th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -17.8% per year; rating input score 0; 7th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 70.8% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 5 of 5 board members independent · 3 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $188K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $109K · 6 people listed
  • Consistency: 26 of 26 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, and grants
  • Filing history: 5 filing years from 2011 to 2015
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 3 filed money-flow records
  • 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.

  • High — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Accountability: Governance controls: 4 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 5/100.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 1/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 6/100.