Wilderness Institute
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 953993869
- IRS 990-EZ coverage
- 2021–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990-EZ 2024, Form 990-N 2020
- Location
- La Mesa, CA, USA
- Phone
- 5056991695
- Rating
- 80
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Environmental Education and Outdoor Survival Programs
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $115,031
- Expenses
- $73,215
- Assets
- $137,789
- Liabilities
- $22,294
Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
3 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Bradley V Childs (President)
People named in this filing
- Bradley V Childs (President)
- Michael Tardif (Secretary)
- Gwendolyn Clouser (Treasurer)
Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.
Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Education & Training
What it reported doing in 2024
Wheel to the Sea events: An outdoor, naturalist led hike for people with physical disabilities, in wheelchairs, and volunteers. Approximately 150 people.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Earned-program. 98% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
- 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
STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Liabilities are high compared with assets.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 76
- Transparency & Controls: 82
- Sustainability: 74
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 61.8%; rating input score 62
- Program expense ratio: 98.2%; rating input score 98
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Limited
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 36.4%; rating input score 87; 87th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.88; rating input score 79; 79th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.16; rating input score 20; 20th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 63; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 10.1% per year; rating input score 100; 61st percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 5.3% per year; rating input score 100; 49th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 32.7% per year; rating input score 100; 89th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 61.8% of revenue deployed · 98.2% of spending went to programs
- Governance: Filed governance answers
- Accomplishments: 2 filed program accomplishments · $72K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 3 people listed
- Consistency: 9 of 9 current checks pass
- Schedules: 2 filed schedules
- Filing history: 4 filing years from 2021 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- 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 — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 20/100.