Outdoor Lab Foundation
Outdoor Lab Foundation
Wheat Ridge CO | IRS ruling year: 2005 | EIN: 20-0293537
Organization Mission
TO INSPIRE COMMUNITY SUPPORT FOR AN ADVOCATE ON BEHALF OF JEFFERSON COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS OUTDOOR LAB PROGRAM.
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Wheat Ridge CO | IRS ruling year: 2005 | EIN: 20-0293537
Organization Mission
TO INSPIRE COMMUNITY SUPPORT FOR AN ADVOCATE ON BEHALF OF JEFFERSON COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS OUTDOOR LAB PROGRAM.
Great
This charity's score is 97%, earning it a Four-Star rating. If this organization aligns with your passions and values, you can give with confidence.
This overall score is calculated from multiple beacon scores, weighted as follows: 80% Accountability & Finance, 10% Leadership & Adaptability, 10% Culture & Community. Learn more about our criteria and methodology.
We recognize that not all metrics and beacons equally predict a charity’s success. The percentage each beacon contributes to the organization’s overall rating depends on the number of beacons an organization has earned.
Use the tool below to select different beacons to see how the weighting shifts when only one, two, or three beacons are earned.
Charity Navigator's ratings previously did not consider Leadership & Adaptability, Culture & Community, or Impact & Results. The historic rating mainly reflects a version of today’s Accountability and Finance score. More information on our previous rating methodologies can be found on our rating methodology page.
Rating histories are available for a growing number of rated organizations. Check back later to see if this organization has a rating history!
Score
Most Recent Fiscal Year:
FY 2022
This beacon provides an assessment of a charity's financial health (financial efficiency, sustainability, and trustworthiness) and its commitment to governance practices and policies.
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Industry professionals strongly recommend an independent governing body to allow for full deliberation and diversity of thinking on governance and other organizational matters. We check to see that a majority of board members are identified as independent on their tax form.
Source: IRS Form 990
Industry professionals strongly recommend an independent governing body to allow for full deliberation and diversity of thinking on governance and other organizational matters. For most organizations, we check to see if the organization has at least three independent board members. For large, donor-funded organizations, we check to see if the organization has at least five independent board members
Source: IRS Form 990
An Audit, Review, or Compilation provides important information about financial accountability and accuracy. Organizations are scored based on their Total Revenue Amount:
Total Revenue Amount | Expectation to Receive Credit |
$2 million or higher and 40% or higher donor support | Expected to complete an audit and have an audit oversight committee |
$1 million or higher | Expected to complete an audit |
$500,000 - $1 million | Expected to complete an audit, review, or compilation |
Less than $500,000 | No expectation (removed from scoring methodology) |
Source: IRS Form 990
A diversion of assets — any unauthorized conversion or use of the organization's assets other than for the organization's authorized purposes, including but not limited to embezzlement or theft — also can seriously call into question a charity's financial integrity. We review the charity's most recent IRS Form 990 to see if the charity has reported any diversion of assets.
Source: IRS Form 990
Charity Navigator looks for a website on the IRS Form 990 as an accountability and transparency metric.
Nonprofits act in the public trust and reporting publicly on activities is an important component.
Source: IRS Form 990
Charity Navigator looks for the existence of a conflict of interest policy on the IRS Form 990 as an accountability and transparency measure.
This policy protects the organization and by extension those it serves, when it is considering entering into a transaction that may benefit the private interest of an officer, director and/or key employee of the organization.
Source: IRS Form 990
Charity Navigator looks for the existence of a whistleblower policy per the IRS Form 990 as an accountability and transparency measure.
This policy outlines procedures for handling employee complaints, as well as a confidential way for employees to report financial or other types of mismanagement.
Source: IRS Form 990
Charity Navigator looks for the existence of a document retention and destruction policy per the IRS Form 990 as an accountability and transparency measure.
This policy establishes guidelines for the handling, backing up, archiving and destruction of documents. These guidelines foster good record keeping procedures that promote data integrity.
Source: IRS Form 990
Charity Navigator looks to confirm on the IRS Form 990 that the organization has this process in place as an accountability and transparency measure.
An official record of the events that take place during a board meeting ensures that a contemporaneous document exists for future reference.
Source: IRS Form 990
For almost all charities, we check the charity's IRS Form 990 to see if it discloses that the Form 990 is available on the charity's website. As with the audited financial statement, donors need easy access to this financial report to help determine if the organization is managing its financial resources well.
Source: IRS Form 990
The Liabilities to Assets Ratio is determined by Total Liabilities divided by Total Assets (most recent IRS Form 990). This ratio is an indicator of an organization's solvency and/or long-term sustainability.
Source: IRS Form 990
The Program Expense Ratio is determined by Program Expenses divided by Total Expense (average of most recent three IRS Forms 990). This measure reflects the percent of its total expenses a charity spends on the programs and services it exists to deliver.
Source: IRS Form 990
This chart displays the trend of revenue and expenses over the past several years for this organization, as reported on their IRS Form 990.
Presented here are up to five of this organization's highest compensated employees. This compensation data includes salary, cash bonuses, and expense accounts and is displayed exactly how it is reported to the IRS. The amounts do not include nontaxable benefits, deferred compensation, or other amounts not reported on Form W-2. In some cases, these amounts may include compensation from related organizations. Read the IRS policies for compensation reporting
Bryan Martin, Executive Dir.
$101,500
Jens Jensen, Past Chair
Compensation not entered
Kim Gieseler, Chairman
Compensation not entered
Doug Hanisch, Treasurer
Compensation not entered
Richard Armitage, Secretary
Compensation not entered
Source: IRS Form 990 (page 7), filing year 2022
Below are some key data points from the Exempt Organization IRS Business Master File (BMF) for this organization. Learn more about the BMF on the IRS website
Foundation Status:
Organization which receives a substantial part of its support from a governmental unit or the general public 170(b)(1)(A)(vi) (BMF foundation code: 15)
Affiliation:
Independent - the organization is an independent organization or an independent auxiliary (i.e., not affiliated with a National, Regional, or Geographic grouping of organizations). (BMF affiliation code: 3)
The Form 990 is a document that nonprofit organizations file with the IRS annually. We leverage finance and accountability data from it to form Encompass ratings. Click here to search for this organization's Forms 990 on the IRS website (if any are available). Simply enter the organization's name (Outdoor Lab Foundation) or EIN (200293537) in the 'Search Term' field.
Not Currently Scored
Outdoor Lab Foundation cannot currently be evaluated by our Impact & Results methodology because either (A) it is eligible, but we have not yet received data; (B) we have not yet developed an algorithm to estimate its programmatic impact; (C) its programs are not direct services; or (D) it is not heavily reliant on contributions from individual donors.
Note: The absence of a score does not indicate a positive or negative assessment, it only indicates that we have not yet evaluated the organization.
Score
This beacon provides an assessment of the organization's culture and connectedness to the community it serves.
Learn more
Constituent Feedback and Listening Practice data are not available for this organization. The methodology leveraged for Constituent Feedback is based on The Core Principles of Constituent Feedback, which describes listening and responding well to feedback. Charity Navigator participates in a consortium with other feedback experts and leading nonprofit infrastructure platforms to drive Constituent Feedback's advancement, promotion, and data collection.
100% of beacon score
This organization's score of 100 is a passing score. The organization reported that it is implementing 14 Equity Practices.
This assessment demonstrates the importance of implementing practices that contribute positively to an organization's overall culture, both internally and with respect to community engagement. Furthermore, equity centered frameworks and similar approaches have drawn much attention from donors, experts, and sector leaders who underscore its value to the nonprofit's overall health and capacity for mission success. Currently, the Equity Strategies Checklist assessment consists of practices and policies that promote racial equity in their operations and programs (per the Equity Strategies checklist administered by Candid). As we refine our DEI assessment, Charity Navigator partners with DEI consultants and field experts to broaden and deepen this work.
Equity Practices (7/7) | |
We review compensation data across the organization (and by staff levels) to identify disparities by race. | |
We ask team members to identify racial disparities in their programs and/or portfolios. | |
We analyze disaggregated data and root causes of race disparities that impact the organization/'s programs, portfolios, and the populations served. | |
We disaggregate data to adjust programming goals to keep pace with changing needs of the communities we support. | |
We employ non-traditional ways of gathering feedback on programs and trainings, which may include interviews, roundtables, and external reviews with/by community stakeholders. | |
We disaggregate data by demographics, including race, in every policy and program measured | |
We have long-term strategic plans and measurable goals for creating a culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization. |
Equity Policies and Procedures (7/7) | |
We use a vetting process to identify vendors and partners that share our commitment to race equity. | |
We have a promotion process that anticipates and mitigates implicit and explicit biases about people of color serving in leadership positions. | |
We seek individuals from various race backgrounds for board and executive director/CEO positions within our organization. | |
We have community representation at the board level, either on the board itself or through a community advisory board. | |
We help senior leadership understand how to be inclusive leaders with learning approaches that emphasize reflection, iteration, and adaptability. | |
We measure and then disaggregate job satisfaction and retention data by race, function, level, and/or team. | |
We engage everyone, from the board to staff levels of the organization, in race equity work and ensure that individuals understand their roles in creating culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization. |
Score
This beacon provides an assessment of the organization's leadership capacity, strategic thinking and planning, and ability to innovate or respond to changes in constituent demand/need or other relevant social and economic conditions to achieve the organization's mission.
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The nonprofit organization presents evidence of strategic thinking through articulating the organization's mission
TO INSPIRE COMMUNITY SUPPORT FOR AN ADVOCATE ON BEHALF OF JEFFERSON COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS OUTDOOR LAB PROGRAM.
The nonprofit organization presents evidence of strategic thinking through articulating the organization’s vision.
To instill community pride in the Outdoor Lab Program such that the program endures, our students ar
Source: Nonprofit submitted responses
The nonprofit organization presents evidence of strategic thinking and goal setting through sharing their most important strategic goals.
Goal One: Bolstering our Tuition Assistance Program to make sure every student, regardless of their ability to pay, can attend Outdoor Lab. Make Outdoor Lab low or no cost to as many students as possible.
Goal Type: Grow, expand, scale or increase access to the existing programs and services.
Goal Two: Growing our High School Leaders Program which is comprised of a scholarship fund and other material incentives to support our approximately 1,000 young adult mentors during their volunteerism on site.
Goal Type: Grow, expand, scale or increase access to the existing programs and services.
Goal Three: Increase pay to interns and making the internship experience more attractive and relevant – 40 total interns who receive a $1,000 stipend at the end of their service.
Goal Type: Grow, expand, scale or increase access to the existing programs and services.
The nonprofit provides evidence of investment in leadership development
Describe an investment in leadership
The Foundation supports the professional development of our staff in three ways. First, we provide funding for direct training and education opportunities both through virtual trainings and in-person conferences. Second, we give employees the chance to take the initiative to develop their own opportunities by taking on new challenges and trying new approaches to our work. Finally, third, we create strategic plans collaboratively and develop our work plans for staff based off the strategies we have collectively selected. This process allows us to identify new goals that individual staff want to work on and stretch into.
The nonprofit provides evidence of leadership through focusing externally and mobilizing resources for the mission.
This organization mobilizes for mission in the following ways:
Strategic Partnerships
Networks of Collective Impact Efforts
Thought Leadership
Raising Awareness
Community Building
What are this organization’s external mobilizaton efforts?
Leadership, and the organization broadly, is constantly growing our outreach efforts and seeking ways to connect with more people about our work. We host an annual gala in which 200 individual attend and learn more about the Foundation's efforts. We have a robust social media strategy in which we plan and calendar content to educate our followers. We regularly speak in front of groups and attend virtual engagement opportunities. Lastly, we have plugged into the advocacy and thought leadership space by participating in numerous environmental education and community-based non-profit coalitions.
The nonprofit has an opportunity to tell the story of how the organization adapted to tremendous external changes in the last year.
For so many nonprofit organizations and for-profit businesses, the events of 2020 and 2021 have been harrowing and traumatizing experiences. The Outdoor Lab Foundation has only been a staffed organization for ten years and the team has been historically small. Combine the smallness of the team with the stresses of the pandemic and associated economic and cultural challenges, which impacted fundraising and schooling, and it is not a surprise that the organization transitioned through three of its four employees it went into 2020 with. Those three employees left for different reasons, but the board recognized through the tumult of 2020 that important changes needed to be made to the organization in order for the organization to grow and for the mission of the foundation to thrive. It started with a commitment to organizational capacity building and bringing in a new Executive Director to lead a more strategic fundraising effort. In January 2021, Bryan Martin was hired to lead the organization’s rebound effort and was given the authority to add two new full-time fundraisers. Moreover, he restructured the budget and established new contractor positions supporting the organization so that now six individuals are working to advance the organization’s goals and objectives. This new direction has been in place for eight months and is already reaping great rewards, the organization finished the 20-21 fiscal year in a fantastic financial position with a surplus of over $300,000. Programmatically in the 20-21 school year, in order accommodate Covid restrictions, Outdoor Lab hosted students for two days per week, both allowing for increased physical distancing by reducing numbers as well as eliminating the over-night component. Despite the challenges, principals and teachers were successful in adapting the curriculum to highlight the most important concepts educators deemed a priority, engaging youth in experiential outdoor activities, and promoting 21st Century Skills.
Impact & Results
Accountability & Finance
Culture & Community
Leadership & Adaptability
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