CharityWatch reached out to Keepers of the Wild (the Organization) via U.S. mail on May 6, 2025, and again via email on June 2, 2025. Despite using the address listed on the Organization's website, the correspondence via U.S. mail was returned to CharityWatch with the message: "Return to Sender; Insufficient Address." The Organization responded via email on August 7, 2025. Upon reviewing the audited financial statements and IRS tax Form 990 of Keepers of the Wild for its fiscal year ended 12/31/2023, CharityWatch had concerns that it was reporting certain fundraising expenses as program expenses in its financial reporting, thus inflating the amount of funds it claimed to be spending on programmatic activities versus overhead. For this reason, CharityWatch asked Keepers of the Wild the following question(s): CharityWatch asked: "Per IRS Form 990, Part IX, Statement of Functional Expenses, line 26: “Joint Costs: Complete this line only if the organization reported in column (B) joint costs from a combined educational campaign and fundraising solicitation. Check here [box] if following SOP 98-2 (ASC 958-720).” Please confirm that the Organization incurred no Joint Costs during the fiscal year ended December 31, 2023. If it did incur joint costs, please provide total joint costs along with the related functional expense allocations." The Organization responded: "The organization's tax preparer did not report any joint costs in 2023." CharityWatch notes that this response from the charity is inadequate, as the charity is simply stating what occurred; that its tax preparer did not report any joint costs. The charity did not answer CharityWatch's question in which we asked it to confirm that it incurred no joint costs. A charity's board of directors, not its tax preparer, is ultimately responsible for the organization's financial reporting. Tax preparers use the information reported to them by a charity's management to complete the Form 990. Therefore, a tax preparer not reporting joint costs does not confirm that the charity did not incur any in a particular year.
CharityWatch asked the Organization to confirm that it incurred no Joint Costs from a combined educational & fundraising campaign because it reported spending $372,491 on "Animal Awareness," all of which it reported as a program expense; $259,863 on "Educational Materials," all of which it reported as a program expense; and $18,517 on "Postage Expense," in 2023. It reported $16,665 of "Postage Expense" as a program expense and $1,852 as a management expense. No portion of any of the cited expenses were allocated to fundraising. The Organization responded that it $372,491 of "Animal Awareness" expenses were in fact related to fundraising, despite its tax form reporting the entire amount as a program expense in its tax filing. It similarly communicated that the $259,863 of "Educational Materials" were in fact related to fundraising, despite its tax form reporting the entire amount as a program expense in its tax filing. It also communicated that its "Postage Expense" included both fundraising and management components, despite reporting the majority of this expense as a program expense in its tax filing. Based on the above responses, CharityWatch reallocated the cited figures from program to fundraising and treated them as Joint Costs from a combined educational / fundraising campaign.
Next, CharityWatch asked Keepers of the Wild questions about its reporting of salaries and other compensation. We noticed that the charity reported in its IRS Form 990 functional expense statement that it paid $97,000 in compensation to "current officers, directors, trustees, and key employees." However, in Form 990, Part VII, which requires such compensation to be broken out and disclosed per person, it reported paying $0 compensation to officers, directors, trustees, or key employees. CharityWatch asked: "Per the IRS form 990, Part IX, Statement of Functional Expenses, line 5, CharityWatch notes $97,000 of “compensation of current officers, directors, trustees, and key employees.” However, Part VII, Compensation of Officers, Directors, Trustees, Key Employees, Highest Compensated Employees, and Independent Contractors omits any compensation reporting. Please provide an explanation for this discrepancy." The Organization responded: "In 2023 Jonathan Kraft was the highest-paid key employee of Keepers of the Wild and was paid a $97,000 annual salary for his role as founder and executive director." CharityWatch notes that all officers, directors, trustees, and key employees of an organization must have their compensation disclosed in the IRS Form 990, Part VII, Section A, regardless of the amount. For fiscal 2023, the Organization did not include any compensation reporting whatsoever in the above section. CharityWatch also asked: "...Lara Kraft, Chairwoman, Dwight Jory, Treasurer, and Kelsey Burkett, Secretary, are reported to have worked 50, 40, and 40 hours, respectively, for the Organization during the year. Please confirm that the above individuals received no compensation of any kind from the Organization that is required to be reported in Part VII. It is highly unusual for unpaid officers to be working full-time or more than full-time hours per week." The Organization responded: "All board members serve voluntarily and do not receive compensation for their service. Lara Kraft, the chairwoman, also serves on the board in a volunteer role and is the only employee of the organization who serves on the board. Jonathan Kraft does not serve on the board." Portions of the charity's response contradict its reporting in IRS Form 990, Part VII. Lara Kraft (Chairwoman), Dwight Jory (Treasurer), and Kelsey Burkett (Secretary), are all reported as Officers of Keepers of the Wild. None are reported in Part VII as directors. The charity claims in Part VII of its 2023 tax filing that Kraft worked 50 hours per week and received no compensation; and that Jory and Burkett each worked 40 hours per week and received zero compensation. The charity responded by saying that it does not pay its board members. It did not respond to our question asking if any of the officers reported in Part VII received any compensation for their full-time roles. |
