Wilderness Youth Project Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
770526117
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Santa Barbara, CA, USA
Phone
8059648096
Rating
83
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Scouting

Reported finances

Revenue
$5,276,033
Expenses
$4,599,801
Assets
$7,028,731
Liabilities
$243,153

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

19 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Daniel Fontaine (Executive Director)

Highest reported compensation

  • Raul Aguilera (REACH Executive Di): $122,670 total reported compensation
  • Ulises Rios (Transportation MGR): $114,106 total reported compensation
  • Sharon Buczaczer (Program Director): $113,298 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

The mission of Wilderness Youth Project (WYP) is to foster confidence, health and a life-long love of learning for young people and families through active outdoor experiences and mentoring. WYP envisions teaching the next generation to be peaceful, respectful and confident stewards of our world.American children spend over 90% of their time indoors. All children need nature. Not just the ones whose families have privilege and easy access to nature. Not only those of a certain race or economic class or culture or gender or sexual identity or language or set of abilities. Partnering with schools and agencies, WYP has increased access to nature connection and outdoor enrichment programs for marginalized youth.

What it reported doing in 2025

REACH (Resilience, Education, Adventure, Community and Health) REACH is a two-and-a-half-year program that provides transformative support and development opportunities for first-generation students as they navigate the transition from high school to postsecondary education and beyond. Through a blend of academic preparation, outdoor experiences, and personal development, REACH helps students build leadership skills, develop meaningful relationships, and engage in formative experiences that prepare them for a successful transition from school to a fulfilling career.REACH serves an average of 173 students annually, beginning in their junior year of high school and continuing through the summer after their first year of college. At any given time, the program supports up to three cohorts simultaneously, providing consistent, multi-year engagement. Even after completing the program, students continue to have access to mentorship, college success resources, and outdoor opportunities as needed.In 2025, REACH was primarily funded by a single donor. While the organization remains primarily supported by one major funder, it has also secured additional support from private foundations and a growing base of individual donors.REACH income for the year ended December 31, 2025 totaled $1,130,777 and expenses totaled $1,003,164 resulting in an increase of net assets of $127,613.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 66% 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.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

The verdict

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 70
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 54
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 72.3%; rating input score 72
  • Program expense ratio: 80%; rating input score 80
  • Fundraising efficiency: $9.67 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 34; 34th 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; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 8 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 100
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 12.8%; rating input score 61; 61st percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.53; rating input score 49; 49th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.03; rating input score 65; 65th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 12.4%; rating input score 27; 27th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 13.6% per year; rating input score 100; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 13.7% per year; rating input score 100; 77th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 17.7% per year; rating input score 100; 80th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 72.3% of revenue deployed · 80% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 14 of 14 board members independent · 8 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $3.7M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $123K · 19 people listed
  • Highest-paid contractors: 1 contractor listed · $131K reported
  • Consistency: 32 of 32 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 16 filing years from 2010 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 6 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.
  • Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 34/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 49/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 27/100.