Wildscreen USA Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
261138780
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2014
Forms available
Form 990 2014
Location
Washington, DC, USA
Phone
8662824315
Rating
82
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Film, Video

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$261,414
Expenses
$421,359
Assets
$90,802
Liabilities
$862

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2014. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

9 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Susan Norton (Chief Executive Officer)

Highest reported compensation

  • Susan Norton (Chief Executive Officer): $139,475 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2014. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Wildscreen USA is working to promote the public appreciation of biodiversity and the conservation of nature through the power of wildlife imagery. To this end, Wildscreen USA is spearheading U.S. efforts in support of the ARKive project - a unique global initiative gathering together the very best films and photographs of the world's species into one centralized digital library, to create a freely-accessible, audio-visual record of life on Earth. To this end, Wildscreen USA is coordinating work with leading media and environmental groups located in the U.S. and working with the U.S. educational sector and the American public to continue to grow ARKive's substantial U.S. audience.

What it reported doing in 2014

Wildscreen USA's main program is called Arkive, which is a key initiative of the global conservation nonprofit Wildscreen. Arkive was a joint project between Wildscreen USA and our partner, Wildscreen (UK). However, this past December, Wildscreen USA has taken over Arkive's creative content and is responsible for planning the next generation of the Arkive website. Arkive is the world's largest and most visually compelling online database of films, photographs and facts about threatened and endangered species - all free for educational use. Arkive features 16,000 species profiles and over 100,000 photographs and film clips from more than 6,500 of the world's leading filmmakers, photographers and scientists who have generously contributed their content at no charge to the project, giving Arkive and the public unprecedented access to their materials. Arkive hosted two meetings in January 2014 bringing together leading conservation organizations together to discuss possible collaboration and brainstorming sessions. - half-day fundraising brainstorm meeting with colleagues from NSF, the Smithsonian Natural History Museum, the former President of National Geographic Television, and marketing/fundraising/event specialists; - A first-time gathering of DC-based conservation organizations - The Nature Conservancy, The Jane Goodall Institute, Conservation International, Amazon Conservation Association, iLCP, IUCN-US hosted by ARKive supporter and prominent biologist Dr. Thomas Lovejoy. - April 2014 Arkive at USASEF - We were invited to join the USA Science & Engineering Festival (USASEF) this April 25-27 and given 5K square feet of exhibit space for free. Open to the public and schools, over 350,000 people attended. At our booth, we showcased Wildscreen award-winning film shorts, had an Arkive graffiti wall that students helped create by coloring their favorite Arkive species, making Arkive masks, and play Arkive interactive learning games. Presented Tim Laman's Bird of Paradise banner exhibit. - Passport DC, which is an open house of embassies in Washington, May 2014. Arkive presented award winning Wildscreen films and installed a photography exhibit of Australian Barrow Island species that are found on Arkive. - Arkive presented at National Science Teacher Association conference in Boston, April 3-6th. Reaching over 40,000 science teachers and administrators from all around the United States. - Partnered with the Peruvian Embassy in Washington during their Kaypi Festival. Reacing over 8,000 parents and children in Washington, DC. - Two WildCities pages built and went live this past fall. WildChicago and WildD.C. Jack Hanna and some of his animals from the Columbus Zoo, were featured at our annual Arkive gala in Chicago in June 2014.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 98% 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.

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 expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 85
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 90
  • Sustainability: 13
  • Growth: 40

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 75.8%; rating input score 76
  • Fundraising efficiency: $8.43 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 37; 37th 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: 6 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 75
    • 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: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -61.2%; rating input score 3; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.22; rating input score 13; 13th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.01; rating input score 59; 59th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 33.1%; rating input score 9; 9th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 5.2% per year; rating input score 100; 57th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -21.1% per year; rating input score 0; 6th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -26.3% per year; rating input score 0; 5th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 75.8% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 8 of 8 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $319K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $139K · 9 people listed
  • Consistency: 42 of 42 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 5 filing years from 2010 to 2014
  • 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.

Grant-readiness screening is separate from the live rating, not a measure of program quality. Review the source records before making a grant decision.

  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 37/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 3/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 13/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 9/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 59/100.
  • High — Grant Readiness: Automatic revocation: this organization had its federal tax-exempt status automatically revoked.