Friends of Edgewood Natural Preserve is an all-volunteer 501(c)3 corporation funded yearly by membership dues, donations, and grants. Our total revenue also includes the proceeds from medium and longer-term investments. Friends of Edgewood’s federal EIN (Employer Identification Number) is 94-3188191.
Program Efficiency
A very high percentage of funds are spent on programs supporting native plant and wildlife preservation, nature education, and habitat restoration at Edgewood County Park and Natural Preserve, San Mateo County’s only natural preserve. Friends of Edgewood is an all-volunteer organization, and we endeavor to keep our management and overhead expenses low.
2022 Treasurer’s Report
The Friends of Edgewood Natural Preserve is an all-volunteer non-profit organization with the mission to protect Edgewood’s extraordinary biodiversity and foster lasting connections with Edgewood and the larger natural world. Our volunteers participate in 27 programs which we group into three broad categories: land & wildlife stewardship, nature education, and interpretive programs. Additionally, there are 13 ongoing activities related to governance and organizational infrastructure.
- (Land & Wildlife Stewardship) Protect and restore the animal and plant habitat of Edgewood County Park & Natural Preserve, engaging volunteers and professional habitat restoration ecologists. Activities include: habitat restoration, seed amplification, showcase sites, social trails repair, weeding of non-native plants, Bluebird box monitoring, camera trapping, adopt-a-highway volunteers, plant mapping volunteers, and county weed management area liaison.
- (Nature Education) We provide volunteers to staff the Education Center at Edgewood and to update and maintain the office and exhibits. We provide a quarterly newsletter for all members. Additional activities include native garden, wildflower surveys, maintaining a display of plants in flower, and an online field guide of plants and animals found at Edgewood.
- (Interpretive Programs) We conduct free, docent-led hikes for the public in Edgewood, training new docents each year. Additional activities include volunteer enrichment, trail ambassadors, and trail signage.
Our largest expenditure in 2022 was land & wildlife stewardship (Project 467), including the Green Grass initiative, Edgewood Farms for seed propagation, and San Mateo thornmint restoration. We purchased new safety vests for volunteers that were distributed at the in-person general meeting in October. Based on the previous success of Edgewood Farms, we more than doubled its size in 2022 in partnership with the San Mateo County Parks Foundation, San Mateo County Parks, and a generous gift from one of our members. Many hardworking volunteers provided skills and labor to complete the project.
2022 was a great year for revenue, allowing us to spend more on land & wildlife stewardship without running a deficit. Membership dues and other gifts amounted to 84% of (non-investment) revenue. We also received some generous grants, primarily for habitat restoration, and also for Edgewood Farms and newsletter expenses.. Our Adopt-A-Highway group qualified for a stipend from CA DOT.
In 2022, the majority of our expense budget, 74%, was used for land & wildlife stewardship. Our nature education programs, including Docent-led walks and the Bill & Jean Lane Education Center, and printing and mailing the quarterly newsletter accounted for 4%. Another 3% went to our interpretive programs, which included free docent-led walks. We also granted 2% to our nonprofit partners, who are key to our strategic goals. The remaining expenses were related to incoming donations, insurance, other general operating expenses, and a new supply of our popular Friends of Edgewood jackets.
As a mature, all-volunteer run non-profit organization, Friends of Edgewood Natural Preserve endeavors to use our financial resources wisely; to spend our yearly funding within our means and invest for the longer term to support the continuation and growth of our programs.
Thank you again to our volunteers, members, and friends for your generous support. We appreciate your donations of both money and time to preserve and restore Edgewood County Park and Natural Preserve as a unique treasure in our neighborhood.
Angela Mallett
Treasurer
2022 Annual Report Recap*
| Annual report | |
|---|---|
| 2022 | |
| Assets | $512,328 |
| Change in assets | $53,831 |
| Revenue, unrestricted | $62,426 |
| Revenue, restricted | $57,658 |
| Investment profit/loss (net unrealized) | -$81,053 |
| Liabilities | $0 |
| Change in liabilities | $0 |
| Expenses, general | $21,157 |
| Expenses, restricted | $76,717 |
*Financial numbers are preliminary and subject to change up to IRS deadlines in May 2023.
If you have questions about Friends of Edgewood financials, please email [email protected].