Woodlawn Conservancy Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
311695037
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Bronx, NY, USA
Phone
7184085624
Rating
80
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Historical Societies, Related Historical Activities

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$2,126,792
Expenses
$2,632,598
Assets
$2,984,974
Liabilities
$1,576,793

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

Leadership & pay

14 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • CHRISTOPHER JEANNOPOULOS (PRESIDENT)
  • MARGARET VENTRUDO (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)

Highest reported compensation

  • CHRISTOPHER JEANNOPOULOS (PRESIDENT): $363,400 total reported compensation
  • MARGARET VENTRUDO (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $192,985 total reported compensation
  • ELIZABETH COONEY (SECRETARY): $93,850 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

To enhance woodlawn cemetery as a natural, educational and cultural landmark; to create a superior visitor experience to the cemetery; and to build a community of supporters dedicated to preserving woodlawn for the enjoyment of present and future generations.

What it reported doing in 2025

Woodlawn's signature program, bridge to crafts careers, successfully taught three cohorts of young people ages 18-24 to make them job ready in masonry preservation, landscape restoration. Metals conservation. Forty young people were served by this program. Cohorts began in the spring of 2025 and the masonry interns learned how to clean and point mausoleums as well as build scaffolding. Fifteen interns successfully completed the program and all interns received the following certifications: osha-30, 10 hr. Site safety, jahn mortar, man lift operations and building stationery scaffolding. At the conclusion of the program, 2 interns were selected to participate in a year-long apprenticeship at woodlawn, working under the guidance of woodlawn's master craftsmen. In the landscape restoration cohort, 15 interns learned pruning and the use of hand-tools such as hand saws and string trimmers. Interns received the following certifications: osha-30, 10 hr. Site safety, man-lift operations, first aid/cpr and flagging. Interns from this cohort have gone on to employment with the high line, battery park, the davey tree company, central park conservancy, van cortlandt park, and with private landscapers. They received certifications of osha-30, 10-hour site safety, first aid, and flagging.in the summer of 2025, woodlawn conservancy hosted 10 students from bronx international high school and bronx lab school in the summer youth employment program historic preservation summer school. This 6-week program introduced high school juniors and seniors, all recent immigrants to the us, to historic preservation, and landscaping through a curriculum of sketching, measuring, photographing, researching, mosaic making and visiting historic sites. This program is integral to the recruitment of interns for the bridge to crafts careers program. All of these activities support the mission of enhancing woodlawn as a national historic landmark.

Operating model

Revenue model
Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 87% 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. Few specific pay-setting methods are documented in the filing; unanswered boxes are not proof of absence and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 90
  • Transparency & Controls: 71
  • Accountability: 82
  • Sustainability: 22
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 88.9%; rating input score 89
  • Fundraising efficiency: $13.83 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 47; 47th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 0 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 0
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Missing
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 75th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 84.6%; rating input score 85; 18th 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: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Fail
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -23.8%; rating input score 4; 4th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.13; rating input score 38; 38th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.53; rating input score 15; 15th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 3.8%; rating input score 64; 64th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 14% per year; rating input score 100; 73rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 12.9% per year; rating input score 100; 75th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 0.3% per year; rating input score 100; 11th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 88.9% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 11 of 13 board members independent · 7 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $2.3M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $363K · 14 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 1 contractor listed · $134K reported
  • Consistency: 27 of 27 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 14 filing years from 2010 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • Related organizations: 2 filed related-organization links
  • 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: Pay-setting controls scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 47/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 4/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 9 not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 38/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 15/100.