2016-04-26T11:32:12-07:00 2015-12-31 Bay Business Group 105 E Annandale Road Suite 215 Falls Church VA 22046 990 2015-01-01 541868546 Earth Sangha EART 7037644830 10123 Commonwealth Blvd Fairfax VA 22032 Chris Bright President 2016-04-26 true David Bradsher P00290229 7035330888 2015 2016-09-27 15:27:22Z Chris Bright 10123 Commonwealth Blvd Fairfax VA 220322707 308938 false false X www.earthsangha.org X 1997 VA Socially engaged Buddhism & ecological restoration. 8 6 6 600 0 191896 202590 90514 105442 419 439 -218 467 282611 308938 5775 2183 0 185518 194530 0 16399 92235 67468 283528 264181 -917 44757 192516 238137 2056 2920 190460 235217 X Socially engaged Buddhism & ecological restoration. false false 108801 95816 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 2015, about 14,500 native trees, shrubs, and herbaceous plants were distributed from the nursery to local natural areas and maintained landscapes. 64291 2183 9626 Tropical Agroforestry: Operation of a community tree nursery and associated forest-conservation 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 2015, about 45 farms participated. The nursery produced about 20,000 orchard, timber, and local-ecotype native tree seedlings; 11 native species were represented, all of them probably in decline in the wild. Our Forest Credit program, in which our local independent partner organization makes low-cost credit available to small-holder farmers in exchange for forest conservation easements, lent $17,289 to 36 farms, in exchange for easements over about 150 acres of forest. Two of our poorest farms are benefitting from our Parcela Agro-Ecolgica, a sophisticated polyculture system designed to increase soil fertility on about one acre, in exchange for additional conservation easements. Our Rising Forests Coffee program, which buys small-holder native-shade coffee, is protecting about 20 acres of forest; during 2015, Rising Forests helped local farmers recover from a devastating leaf-rust epidemic that killed virtually all of the regions coffee trees; about 2,000 rust-resistant trees were planted. Our 44.3-acre nature reserve, the regions only community-owned nature reserve, is protecting the headwaters of a village water supply. 32403 DC-Area Forest Restoration Outside Stream Buffers:On-going work at the 20-acre Marie Butler Leven Preserve in Fairfax County, Virginia. During 2015, about 300 people volunteered to help suppress invasive alien vegetation in the parks 17-acre forest. We suppressed invasive trees, shrubs, vines, and herbaceous plants in various parts of the forest and along the forest edge. Total area worked amounted to about 10 acres. We also replanted the Preserves Native Pollinator Garden, and we planted the artificial vernal pool with emergent vegetation to improve its habitat value. 13069 218564 true true false false false false false false false false true false false false false false false false false true true true false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false true 0 0 false 6 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 false 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 4028 Lisa Bright Exec Dir/Treas 50.00 0.00 X X 38851 0 3396 Richard Haeuber Director 0.50 0.00 X 0 0 0 Ashley Todd Mattoon Director 1.00 0.00 X 0 0 0 Robert Jordan Director 1.00 0.00 X 0 0 0 Mary Sylvia Director 2.00 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 98435 7424 0 false false false 0 24150 178440 202590 Forest Coffee Sales 110000 9626 9626 Native Plant Sales 110000 95816 95816 105442 439 439 0 0 0 0 0 0 467 467 467 0 308938 105442 906 0 0 2183 2183 0 105859 83579 14113 8167 0 73104 57361 9973 5770 0 2452 1987 289 176 13115 10528 1604 983 0 0 2519 2023 352 144 0 0 0 6146 6146 0 2014 1691 244 79 3864 3119 553 192 0 1740 1740 1555 1555 0 0 0 0 5764 4782 629 353 9269 9057 159 53 Field Soil and Sand 5299 5299 Printing and Publications 3825 3126 500 199 Field Containers 2823 2823 Credit Card Fees 2405 1913 492 20245 19652 310 283 264181 218564 29218 16399 38508 69865 139850 155289 0 0 48 0 0 0 0 62827 49892 14006 12935 0 0 0 152 0 0 192516 238137 2056 2920 2056 2920 X 190460 235217 190460 235217 192516 238137 44757 X false false false X 139519 219969 200930 191896 202590 954904 0 0 139519 219969 200930 191896 202590 954904 138116 816788 472 306 407 419 438 2042 20 140 42 -218 467 451 0 957397 396812 0.85310 0.80480 X RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED 62827 49892 12935 12935 true Central Amer/Caribbean 0 3 Program Services Forest Conservation 12690 3 3 12690 12690 CenAmer/Carib Conservation 2183 Cash Cash 1 false false false false false false Matthew Bright Officer Son 32480 Employee false Schedule L, Part V Supplemental Information The son of the President and Executive Director/Treasurer was an employee of the organization during 2015. Form 990, Part III, Line 4d: Other Program Services Description OTHER PROGRAM SERVICES 4: DC-Area Meadow Restoration:Planting and meadow-maintenance activities at two Fairfax County Parks: at Americana Park, where we collaborated with another nonprofit and Fairfax County to establish a small meadow, and the Marie Butler Leven Preserve (see DC-Area Forest Restoration Outside Stream Buffers), where we weeded the small meadow that we established there in 2012. OTHER PROGRAM SERVICES 5: Tropical Agroforestry: Operation of a community tree nursery and associated forest-conservation 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 2015, about 45 farms participated. The nursery produced about 20,000 orchard, timber, and local-ecotype native tree seedlings; 11 native species were represented, all of them probably in decline in the wild. Our Forest Credit program, in which our local independent partner organization makes low-cost credit available to small-holder farmers in exchange for forest conservation easements, lent $17,289 to 36 farms, in exchange for easements over about 150 acres of forest. Two of our poorest farms are benefitting from our Parcela Agro-Ecolgica, a sophisticated polyculture system designed to increase soil fertility on about one acre, in exchange for additional conservation easements. Our Rising Forests Coffee program, which buys small-holder native-shade coffee, is protecting about 20 acres of forest; during 2015, Rising Forests helped local farmers recover from a devastating leaf-rust epidemic that killed virtually all of the regions coffee trees; about 2,000 rust-resistant trees were planted. Our 44.3-acre nature reserve, the regions only community-owned nature reserve, is protecting the headwaters of a village water supply. OTHER PROGRAM SERVICES 6: DC-Area Meditation: The practice of traditional Buddhist meditation in a nondenominational format, in the Washington, DC, area. During 2015, sessions were generally conducted once a week. Some 30 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 2015, about 300 people volunteered to help suppress invasive alien vegetation in the parks 17-acre forest. We suppressed invasive trees, shrubs, vines, and herbaceous plants in various parts of the forest and along the forest edge. Total area worked amounted to about 10 acres. We also replanted the Preserves Native Pollinator Garden, and we planted the artificial vernal pool with emergent vegetation to improve its habitat value. 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 is also an employee of the organization. Two of the volunteer directors are also 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 $95,816 from sales of native plants grown in the Wild Plant Nursery and $9,626 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 income of $467 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 2015, volunteers contributed approximately 10,000 hours of service to our Wild Plant Nursery and DC-area ecological restoration sites. We value this effort at $24.90 per hour, which is the current (2014) value for Virginia, as recognized by the Virginia Department of Social Services (2014 is the most recent year for which avalue was available). The total value of our 2015 volunteer effort was therefore $249,000.During 2015, Fairfax County, Virginia, continued to service the gravel roads that serve our Wild Plant Nursery. The County cleared debris from the road bed, laid fresh gravel, and trimmed overhanging trees. We value Fairfax Countys contribution at $2,500.