Watsonville Wetlands Watch

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
770519882
IRS 990 coverage
2013–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Freedom, CA, USA
Phone
8317281156
Rating
78
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Water Resource, Wetlands Conservation and Management

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$2,517,510
Expenses
$1,740,109
Assets
$3,869,781
Liabilities
$59,707

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

Leadership & pay

14 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • TERESA DELFINO (President)
  • KIM TSCHANTZ (Vice President)

Highest reported compensation

  • JONATHAN PILCH (Executive Dir.): $124,059 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Watsonville wetlands watch advocates for wetland issues, educates in schools and in the public arena, restores degraded habitats, and preserves wetlands of the pajaro valley, especially involving members of the watsonville community and the students of the pajaro valley unified school district.

What it reported doing in 2024

Environmental Education Programs: Watsonville Wetlands Watch provides outdoor and classroom based experiential environmental education programs for over 6,000 students in K-12, as well colleges and universities that increase knowledge, understanding, and appreciation of the environment and unique habitats of the Pajaro Valleys wetlands and provide meaningful ways for youth to contribute to local environmental and sustainability solutions. Our education programs are operated out of the Fitz Wetlands Educational Resource Center, an environmental education center and community center on the campus of Pajaro Valley High School. We run a volunteer docent program and offer free tours and lectures to the community that encourage the publics appreciation and increased understanding of the value of wetlands in the Pajaro Valley.

Operating model

Revenue model
Grant-funded. 62% 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 - The filed numbers largely add up and a large share of total spending goes to programs. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 64
  • Transparency & Controls: 94
  • Accountability: 79
  • Sustainability: 74
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 53.9%; rating input score 54
  • Program expense ratio: 76.4%; rating input score 76
  • Fundraising efficiency: $38.58 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 74; 74th 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: 100%; rating input score 100; 72nd 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: 4 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: Pass
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 30.9%; rating input score 85; 85th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.22; rating input score 65; 65th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.02; rating input score 83; 83rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 7.1%; rating input score 41; 41st percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 8.9% per year; rating input score 100; 60th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 12.4% per year; rating input score 100; 76th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 3.2% per year; rating input score 100; 25th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 53.9% of revenue deployed · 76.4% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 13 of 13 board members independent · 4 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $1.3M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $124K · 14 people listed
  • Consistency: 26 of 26 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
  • Filing history: 11 filing years from 2013 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • 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 — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 54/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 7 not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 41/100.