Wildaid Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
203644441
IRS 990 coverage
2015–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
San Francisco, CA, USA
Phone
4158343174
Rating
73
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Standard
Sector
Animal Protection and Welfare

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$12,015,700
Expenses
$10,718,191
Assets
$8,927,936
Liabilities
$1,342,787

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

Leadership & pay

23 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • MEAGHAN BROSNAN (CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER/SECRETARY)
  • JOHN BAKER (PRESIDENT/CHIEF PROGRAMS OFFICER)

Highest reported compensation

  • JOHN BAKER (PRESIDENT/CHIEF PROGRAMS OFFICER): $277,464 total reported compensation
  • MEAGHAN BROSNAN (CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER/SECRETARY): $218,400 total reported compensation
  • RACHEL LEE HOLSTEIN (DONOR IMPACT DIRECTOR): $188,819 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Wildaid's mission is to inspire change and empower the world to protect wildlife and vital habitats from critical threats.

What it reported doing in 2024

Wildaid's wildlife program continued to address threats to elephants, rhinos, pangolins, sharks, and lions with a comprehensive approach to reducing demand for wildlife products in china and asia while strengthening protection in several african countries, including cameroon, gabon, tanzania, and uganda. We leveraged our strong communications campaign expertise in china, southeast asia, and africa to strengthen conservation actions. Our efforts to protect pangolins included success in persuading doctors to reduce prescription of pangolin scales in traditional chinese medicine in china and vietnam. Our campaign to reduce the urban consumption of wild meat, especially pangolin, in cameroon's cities and towns enlisted pledges from 500 restaurants to stop and/or never serve pangolin.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 78% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 97% 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.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

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 fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 74
  • Transparency & Controls: 73
  • Accountability: 86
  • Sustainability: 50
  • Growth: 40

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 73.1%; rating input score 73
  • Program expense ratio: 81.5%; rating input score 82
  • Fundraising efficiency: $15.65 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 51; 51st percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 93.8%; rating input score 94; 17th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: 1 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 12
    • Claims monitoring procedures: Pass
    • Requires narrative reports: Fail
    • Conducts field audits: Fail
    • May suspend future funding: Fail
    • Requires financial reports: Fail
    • Conducts site visits: Fail
    • Requires grant agreements: Fail
    • May require repayment: Fail
  • 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: 91.7%; rating input score 92; 24th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 7 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 78
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: Pass
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 10.8%; rating input score 69; 69th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.83; rating input score 30; 30th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.15; rating input score 65; 65th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 14.6%; rating input score 9; 9th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 2.8% per year; rating input score 100; 24th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -0.8% per year; rating input score 0; 6th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -7% per year; rating input score 0; 2nd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 73.1% of revenue deployed · 81.5% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 11 of 12 board members independent · 7 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $8.7M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $277K · 23 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $2.1M reported
  • Consistency: 37 of 38 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 9 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 9 filing years from 2015 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 11 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: 7 of 8 not reported.
  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 51/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 9 not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 30/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 9/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Schedule R controlled transactions itemized did not reconcile in the filed values.