2017-05-03T06:25:19-07:00 2016-12-31 Bay Business Group 105 E Annandale Road Suite 215 Falls Church VA 22046 990 2016-01-01 541868546 Earth Sangha EART 7037644830 10123 Commonwealth Blvd Fairfax VA 22032 Chris Bright President 2017-05-03 true David Bradsher P00290229 7035330888 2016 2021-01-29 14:40:06Z Chris Bright 10123 Commonwealth Blvd Fairfax VA 220322707 461566 false false X www.earthsangha.org X 1997 VA Socially engaged Buddhism & ecological restoration. 8 6 5 600 0 202590 323021 105442 136807 439 541 467 -581 308938 459788 2183 0 0 194530 210588 0 17746 67468 69043 264181 279631 44757 180157 238137 420490 2920 5116 235217 415374 X Socially engaged Buddhism & ecological restoration. false false 118538 136678 DC-Area Wild Plant Nursery:Propagation from the wild of about 320 plant species native to the greater Washington, DC, region for use in local ecological restoration projects. All stock is local ecotype (propagated directly from local wild native-plant populations). Our plants are used in our own projects and in those of other nonprofits, friends of groups, individual restorationists, and government agencies managing local parkland. During 2016, over 27,000 native trees, shrubs, and herbaceous plants were distributed from the nursery to local forests, meadows, and maintained landscapes. 69466 128 Tropical Agroforestry: Tree Bank Hispaniola ProgramOperation of two community tree nurseries and associated forest-conservation and tree-planting programs on the Dominican side of a portion of the Dominican Republic Haiti border, to slow deforestation and help impoverished farmers increase their incomes. During 2016, about 45 farms participated. The nurseries produced about 20,000 orchard, timber, and local-ecotype native tree seedlings; 25 native species were represented, all of them probably in decline in the wild. Our Forest Credit program, in which our local independent partner organization extends low-cost credit to small-holder farmers in exchange for forest conservation easements, lent $18,233 to 36 farms, in exchange for easements over about 150 acres of forest. Our 44.3-acre nature reserve, the regions only community-owned nature reserve, is protecting the headwaters of a village water supply. Our Rising Forests Coffee program, which buys small-holder native-shade coffee, is protecting about 20 acres of forest; during 2016, Rising Forests continued to help local farmers recover from a devastating leaf-rust epidemic that killed virtually all of their coffee trees during 2014-15; about 5,000 rust-resistant coffee trees were planted under native forest canopy. Also during 2016, we launched our Rising Forests Cocoa project, by growing and distributing cocoa trees for planting under native canopy. About 3,000 cocoa trees were distributed in 2016. Since coffee and cocoa are high-value shade-tolerant crops, Rising Forests creates a powerful economic incentive to conserve forest. As part of our Rising Forests effort, we continue to restore additional patches of forest for underplanting with coffee and cocoa. 34014 DC-Area Forest Restoration Outside Stream Buffers:On-going work at the 20-acre Marie Butler Leven Preserve in Fairfax County, Virginia. During 2016, about 140 people volunteered to help suppress invasive alien vegetation in the parks 17-acre forest. We suppressed a wide range of invasives, including trees, shrubs, vines, and herbaceous species. Control efforts extended throughout the entire forest area but are far from complete. 8937 230955 true true false false false false false false false false true false false true false false false false false true true false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false true false false false false false false false false false false false true 0 0 false 5 true false false false false false false false false 0 false false false false false false false false false false X 8 6 true false false false false false false true false false false false true true true true true false false false VA X X X Chris Bright 7037644830 10123 Commonwealth Blvd Fairfax VA 22032 Chris Bright President 50.00 0.00 X X 59584 0 3992 Lisa Bright Exec Dir/Treas 40.00 0.00 X X 39350 0 3628 Richard Haeuber Director 0.50 0.00 X 0 0 0 Ashley Todd Mattoon Director 0.50 0.00 X 0 0 0 Robert Jordan Director 0.50 0.00 X 0 0 0 Mary Sylvia Chairman 0.50 0.00 X 0 0 0 Peter Forbes Director 1.00 0.00 X 0 0 0 Amy Frey Director 0.25 0.00 X 0 0 0 98934 7620 0 false false false 0 X 24150 298871 323021 Forest Coffee Sales 110000 129 129 Native Plant Sales 110000 136678 136678 136807 541 541 0 0 0 0 0 0 1197 1778 -581 -581 0 459788 136807 -40 0 0 0 0 106554 83491 14731 8332 0 78818 61478 11035 6305 0 11617 11067 373 177 13599 10607 1904 1088 0 0 1750 1400 262 88 0 0 0 11469 11298 109 62 10 10 1865 1590 206 69 3552 3015 402 135 0 2692 2624 56 12 4206 4206 0 0 0 0 5218 4330 564 324 1444 1232 159 53 Printing and Publications 6538 5422 837 279 Field Soil and Sand 4618 4618 Field Containers 3901 3901 Credit Card Fees 2479 1949 530 19301 18717 292 292 279631 230955 30930 17746 69865 158824 155289 215830 0 0 48 0 0 0 0 0 68548 55110 12935 13438 0 0 0 0 32398 238137 420490 2920 5116 2920 5116 X 235217 415374 235217 415374 238137 420490 180157 X false false false X 219969 200930 191896 202590 323021 1138406 0 0 219969 200930 191896 202590 323021 1138406 252903 885503 306 407 419 438 541 2111 140 42 -218 467 -581 -150 0 1140367 346274 0.77650 0.85310 X RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED 68548 55110 13438 13438 Leven House Renovation Costs 32398 32398 true Central Amer/Caribbean 0 4 Program Services Forest Conservation 14344 4 4 14344 14344 false false false false false false Matthew Bright Officer Son 34000 Employee false Katherine Isaacson Officer in-law 34000 Employee false Schedule L, Part V Supplemental Information The son and the daughter-in-law of the President and Executive Director/Treasurer were employees of the organization during 2016. Form 990, Part III, Line 4d: Other Program Services Description OTHER PROGRAM SERVICES 4: OTHER PROGRAM SERVICES 5: Tropical Agroforestry: Tree Bank Hispaniola ProgramOperation of two community tree nurseries and associated forest-conservation and tree-planting programs on the Dominican side of a portion of the Dominican Republic Haiti border, to slow deforestation and help impoverished farmers increase their incomes. During 2016, about 45 farms participated. The nurseries produced about 20,000 orchard, timber, and local-ecotype native tree seedlings; 25 native species were represented, all of them probably in decline in the wild. Our Forest Credit program, in which our local independent partner organization extends low-cost credit to small-holder farmers in exchange for forest conservation easements, lent $18,233 to 36 farms, in exchange for easements over about 150 acres of forest. Our 44.3-acre nature reserve, the regions only community-owned nature reserve, is protecting the headwaters of a village water supply. Our Rising Forests Coffee program, which buys small-holder native-shade coffee, is protecting about 20 acres of forest; during 2016, Rising Forests continued to help local farmers recover from a devastating leaf-rust epidemic that killed virtually all of their coffee trees during 2014-15; about 5,000 rust-resistant coffee trees were planted under native forest canopy. Also during 2016, we launched our Rising Forests Cocoa project, by growing and distributing cocoa trees for planting under native canopy. About 3,000 cocoa trees were distributed in 2016. Since coffee and cocoa are high-value shade-tolerant crops, Rising Forests creates a powerful economic incentive to conserve forest. As part of our Rising Forests effort, we continue to restore additional patches of forest for underplanting with coffee and cocoa. OTHER PROGRAM SERVICES 6: DC-Area Meditation: The practice of traditional Buddhist meditation in a nondenominational format, in the Washington, DC, area. During 2016, sessions were generally conducted once a week. Some 25 people attended at least one sitting; there were about 10 regular attendees. OTHER PROGRAM SERVICES 7: DC-Area Forest Restoration Outside Stream Buffers:On-going work at the 20-acre Marie Butler Leven Preserve in Fairfax County, Virginia. During 2016, about 140 people volunteered to help suppress invasive alien vegetation in the parks 17-acre forest. We suppressed a wide range of invasives, including trees, shrubs, vines, and herbaceous species. Control efforts extended throughout the entire forest area but are far from complete. Form 990, Part VI, Line 2: Description of Business or Family Relationship of Officers, Directors, Et The President and Executive Director/Treasurer of Earth Sangha are married; their son and his spouse are also employees of the organization. See Schedule L.Two of the volunteer directors are married to each other. Form 990, Part VI, Line 8: Explanation of No Contemporaneously Documentation of Meetings Line 8b: No such committees were in place during the year. Form 990, Part VI, Line 11b: Form 990 Review Process Form 990 is reviewed by the President, on behalf of the Board, and by our accountant. Form 990, Part VI, Line 12c: Explanation of Monitoring and Enforcement of Conflicts Relevant personnel must sign an annual disclosure. Form 990, Part VI, Line 19: Other Organization Documents Publicly Available Appropriate documents were made available upon request. Form 990, Part III, Line 4 The Organization had income of $136,678 from sales of native plants grown in the Wild Plant Nursery and $129 from sales of coffee grown through the Tropical Agroforestry program. This income is reported on line 9 of Part I. These sales are directly related to the Organization's tax-exempt purpose. See Part III lines 4a and 4b and Schedule O description of Part III line 4b.The Organization had a loss of $581 from occasional sales of t-shirts bearing the Earth Sangha logo, reported on line 11 of Part I. This income is not reported as unrelated business income under the exclusion for income from activities that are not regularly carried on (IRC 512(a)(1)). The t-shirts are sold at or near cost; the entire cost of t-shirt purchases is recorded as an expense at the time of purchase by the Organization. form 990, Statement on the Value of In-Kind Donations During 2016, volunteers contributed approximately 10,000 hours of service to our Wild Plant Nursery and DC-area ecological restoration sites. We value this effort at $26.09 per hour, which is the current (2015) value of volunteer time for Virginia, as recognized by the Virginia Office on Volunteerism and Community Services (2015 is the most recent year for which a value was available). The total value of our 2016 volunteer effort was therefore $260,900.