Better Business Bureau Report for
Houston Wilderness, Inc.

Better Business Bureau Report issued March 2011
Better Business Bureau Report expires March 2012


This BBB Accredited charity meets all 20 Standards for Charity Accountability. Find out more...


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Charity Contact Information

Name: Houston Wilderness, Inc.
Address: 4916 Main Street #230
  Houston, TX 77002
Phone: 713-524-7330
Web Address: www.houstonwilderness.org
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Better Business Bureau Comments

Year, State Incorporated: 2002, Texas
Affiliates: None
Stated Purpose: Houston Wilderness is a broad-based alliance of business, environmental and government interests that act in concert to protect, preserve and promote the unique biodiversity of the region’s precious remaining ecological capital – from bottomland hardwoods and prairie grasslands to pine forests and wetlands – while recognizing the importance of the region’s natural assets to its cultural history, economic vitality and future well-being.

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Evaluation Conclusions

              

Houston Wilderness, Inc. meets the 20 Standards for Charity Accountability.
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Programs

              

Wilderness Passport – an educational tool designed to encourage schools, scouts, youth organizations, and children and their parents to visit our environmental sites and appreciate the mental and physical health and well-being that nature provides in our area. Houston Wilderness Website – an interactive providing comprehensive information about places and ways to explore and experience nature. Mission: Possible Nature Challenge – a summer program developed to provide children and their families with opportunities to explore and learn about natural areas together. Alliance of Metropolitan Conservation Coalitions – an alliance of five metropolitan conservation organizations formed to facilitate collaborative conservation across broad geographic areas. Partners in Conservation Initiative (PICI) has been developed to address the organization’s 2008 strategic plan goal to increase state and federal funds to support public-private conservation partnerships in the region. The main purpose of the initiative is to build the financial capacity of partnering organizations to increase land acquisition, open spaces, including habitat and trails, parks, nature preserves for recreation and conservation purposes. Sam Houston Trail and Wilderness Preserve – a 650 mile green “necklace” that will connect the region’s ecosystems as a multi-use Regional Trail traversing thirteen counties, offering biking, hiking, kayaking, birding, horseback riding and many other recreational activities for its users.

For the fiscal year ended June 30, 2009, Houston Wilderness, Inc.'s program expenses were:

  
Total: 470,656
Total Program Expenses: $470,656
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Governance

              

Chief Executive : John Cronin, President and CEO
Compensation*:

Chair of the Board: Mike Rome
Chair's Profession / Business Affiliation: Bridgeway Capital Management

Board Size: 31

Paid Staff Size: 7

*Compensation includes annual salary and, if applicable, benefit plans, expense accounts, and other allowances.
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Fund Raising

              

Method(s) Used:

invitations to fund raising events, grant proposals
Fund raising costs were 15% of related contributions. (Related contributions, which totaled $588,369, are donations received as a result of fund raising activities.)
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Tax Status

              

This organization is tax-exempt under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. It is eligible to receive contributions deductible as charitable donations for federal income tax purposes.
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Financial

              

The following information is based on Houston Wilderness, Inc.'s audited financial statements for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2009.

Source of Funds  
Contributions 440,409
Special Events 147,960
Interest and other income 6,324
Donor benefit costs of special event -20,245
Total Income $574,448


chart



Uses of Funds as a % of Total Expenses

Programs: 75%  Fund Raising: 14%  Administrative: 11% 

Total income   $574,448
  Program expenses $470,656
  Fund raising expenses 85,861
  Administrative expenses 68,469
 
Total expenses   $624,986
Expenses in Excess of Income   (50,538)
Beginning net assets   400,337
Ending net assets   349,799
Total liabilities   1,120
Total assets   $350,919


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Complaints

              

The BBB has processed no complaints about this organization in the past 36 months, our standard reporting period.

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An organization may change its practices at any time without notice. A copy of this report has been shared with the organization prior to publication. It is not intended to recommend or deprecate, and is furnished solely to assist you in exercising your own judgment. If the report is about a charity and states the charity meets or does not meet the BBB Standards for Charity Accountability, it reflects the results of an evaluation of information and materials provided voluntarily by the charity. The name Better Business Bureau is a registered service mark of the Council of Better Business Bureaus, Inc.

This report is not to be used for fund raising or promotional purposes.

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