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ORGANIZATION FOR TROPICAL STUDIES INC

EIN 56-2125831 DURHAM, NC

Revenue 2024
$9,701,537
Expenses 2024
$8,798,295

Program services were 82.8% of total expenses calculated — Part IX's program-services column over total expenses, both as filed.

As filed

Subsection
03
NTEE code
Q055
Classification
1000
Street
408 SWIFT AVE

These codes are the IRS's own and are shown exactly as filed. What each one means is in the Business Master File documentation (opens in a new tab).

Mission and programs · 2024

Mission

THE ORGANIZATION FOR TROPICAL STUDIES, INC. (OTS) IS CHARTERED AS A NON PROFIT CORPORATION UNDER THE LAWS OF NORTH CAROLINA AND IS SUPPORTED BY A CONSORTIUM OF INSTITUTIONS OF HIGHER LEARNING IN NORTH, CENTRAL, AND SOUTH AMERICA, AUSTRALIA, AND SOUTH AFRICA. OTS'S PURPOSE IS TO SUSTAIN TROPICAL ECOSYSTEMS BY DRIVING SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY AND KNOWLEDGE, BY ENRICHING HUMAN PERCEPTION OF NATURE, AND BY ENHANCING WORLDWIDE POLICY IN THE TROPICS.

Activities or mission (Part I)

SEE PART III, LINE 1.

  • FACILITATED RESEARCH AND CONSERVATION: THE ORGANIZATION RECEIVES GRANTS AND CONTRACTS TO SUPPORT SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH AT ITS FIELD STATIONS AND CONSERVATION PROJECTS AT, AND IN THE VICINITY OF, ITS FIELD STATIONS.

    Expenses $3,265,581 · Grants $73,365

  • FIELD STATIONS: THE ORGANIZATION OPERATES THREE BIOLOGICAL FIELD STATIONS IN DIVERSE ECOLOGICAL ZONES OF COSTA RICA (LA SELVA, LAS CRUCES, AND PALO VERDE) AND ONE IN KRUGER NATIONAL PARK, SOUTH AFRICA. THESE FIELD STATIONS ARE MAINTAINED TO FACILITATE BIOLOGICAL RESEARCH AND TO CONDUCT EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS.

    Expenses $2,950,132 · Grants $155,756 · Revenue $1,087,420

  • EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS: THE ORGANIZATION CONDUCTS A NUMBER OF EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS, INCLUDING GRADUATE COURSES FOR ACADEMIC CREDIT AND UNDERGRADUATE SEMESTER- ABROAD PROGRAMS FOR ACADEMIC CREDIT. THE ORGANIZATION HAS OFFERED MID-CAREER PROFESSIONAL TRAINING FOR U.S. AND LATIN AMERICAN OFFICIALS AND POLICY- MAKERS, SHORT EXCURSIONS LED BY SCIENTISTS FOR MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC IN COSTA RICA, AND PROGRAMS FOR PRIMARY AND SECONDARY SCHOOL TEACHERS.

    Expenses $1,066,966 · Grants $2,217 · Revenue $2,461,827

As filed on the 2024 return. The filer continues this part on Schedule O, which is not shown here.

Officers and directors · 2024

As listed in Part VII of the 2024 return, in the order the filer printed them. Each return names its own; this is not a roster the organization keeps with us.

  • CHELSEA WARD

    DIRECTOR/ CHAIR

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    2

  • RAFAEL MUNOZ-CARPENA

    DIRECTOR/ TREASURER

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    1

  • ERIN KUPREWICZ

    DIRECTOR / SECRETARY

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    1

  • SUSAN CORDELL

    DIRECTOR (UNTIL JUNE 2025)

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    1

  • JAMES DALLING

    DIRECTOR

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    1

  • KYLE HARMS

    DIRECTOR, (FROM JUNE 2025)

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    1

  • BRYAN HEIDORN

    DIRECTOR

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    1

  • ANDRE KESSLER

    DIRECTOR

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    1

  • JAVIER MATEO-VEGA

    DIRECTOR

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    1

  • GEORGE MIDDENDORF III

    DIRECTOR

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    1

  • NATHAN MUCHHALA

    DIRECTOR

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    1

  • MURIEL POSTON

    DIRECTOR

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    1

  • OSCAR ROCHA

    DIRECTOR

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    1

  • JOHN TOBIN

    DIRECTOR

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    1

  • ALVARO UMANA

    DIRECTOR

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    1

  • TERRY VOGT

    DIRECTOR, (UNTIL JULY 2024)

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    1

  • MICHAEL WASSERMAN

    DIRECTOR

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    1

  • WILLIAM WCISLO

    DIRECTOR

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    1

  • JENNIFER KELLEY

    CHIEF ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICER

    Total calculated
    $110,530
    From this org
    $89,760
    From related orgs
    $0
    Other
    $20,770
    Hours/week
    40

  • MIGUEL MENDEZ

    CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER

    Total calculated
    $98,439
    From this org
    $86,608
    From related orgs
    $0
    Other
    $11,831
    Hours/week
    40

  • ELIZABETH BRAKER

    DIR./PRES./CEO (FROM NOV. 24)

    Total calculated
    $26,667
    From this org
    $26,667
    From related orgs
    $0
    Other
    $0
    Hours/week
    40

Compensation is as filed in Part VII: reportable pay from this organization and from related organizations, other compensation, and hours per week. The total, marked calculated, is our sum of the three dollar columns, with a blank column counted as $0; the form itself has no total. On a Form 990-EZ the columns are Part IV's instead, and on a Form 990-PF Part VIII's — compensation, contributions to benefit plans, and expense account — and the total sums those. Earlier years are each on their own filing page.

Filings

  • 2024
    Revenue
    $9,701,537
    Expenses
    $8,798,295
    Contributions
    $5,942,893
    Grants paid
    $231,338
  • 2023
    Revenue
    $9,219,213
    Expenses
    $9,858,737
    Contributions
    $5,476,336
    Grants paid
    $218,291
  • 2022
    Revenue
    $8,814,178
    Expenses
    $9,350,545
    Contributions
    $5,534,915
    Grants paid
    $327,224

The four totals the IRS asks for on Part I of the Form 990, as filed. A dash means the figure was not present on the return — not that it was zero.

Other returns filed

  • 2021 · 990

    Revenue
    $4,521,186
    Expenses
    $4,875,291
    Assets (EOY)
    $14,310,445

  • 2020 · 990

    Revenue
    $2,862,547
    Expenses
    $3,272,598
    Assets (EOY)
    $17,564,008

  • 2019 · 990

    Revenue
    $4,220,880
    Expenses
    $4,597,253
    Assets (EOY)
    $14,551,927

  • 2018 · 990

    Revenue
    $4,225,194
    Expenses
    $5,789,918
    Assets (EOY)
    $15,138,124

  • 2017 · 990

    Revenue
    $6,242,782
    Expenses
    $7,481,398
    Assets (EOY)
    $16,795,304

  • 2017 · 990

    Revenue
    $6,242,782
    Expenses
    $7,481,398
    Assets (EOY)
    $16,795,304

  • 2016 · 990

    Revenue
    $7,508,550
    Expenses
    $8,180,616
    Assets (EOY)
    $17,801,455

  • 2015 · 990

    Revenue
    $8,156,369
    Expenses
    $8,244,544
    Assets (EOY)
    $17,670,714

  • 2014 · 990

    Revenue
    $8,710,613
    Expenses
    $8,212,326
    Assets (EOY)
    $18,916,246

  • 2013 · 990

    Revenue
    $7,878,180
    Expenses
    $8,555,773
    Assets (EOY)
    $18,537,556

Nonprofiteer parses Forms 990, 990-EZ and 990-PF, in a window of recent tax years. These returns are recorded from the IRS e-file index, so their figures were extracted by that index rather than read from the return here — treat them as a different source from the filings above, not as more of the same record. A dash means the index carries no figure; Form 990-T listings carry none at all. Showing the 10 most recent; the API carries the rest.

Grants made

No itemized grants to organizations. Schedule I is filed only by organizations that granted more than $5,000 to a recipient, so most filers have none.

Grants received

Related organizations

From Schedule R Part II, where a filer lists the tax-exempt organizations it is related to by control. It does not record shared board members or money.

Declared on its 2024 return

  • NSASANI TRUST

    N/A · EDUCATION AND RESEARCH PROGRAMS IN KRUGER NATIONAL PARK · SF · controlled entity

  • OTS SA

    N/A · ESTABLISH, FOSTER, SUPPORT AND CONDUCT PROGRAMS IN EDUCATION AND RESEARCH · SF · controlled entity

Other IRS files

Auto-Revocation List

Not listed. The IRS publishes this list for organizations whose exemption was automatically revoked for failing to file for three consecutive years.

Publication 78

Listed as of 13 October 2026, under deductibility PC.

These are two separate IRS files on two separate schedules, shown as published and not reconciled with each other. Neither is a statement about whether a contribution is deductible today: 19,245 organizations appear in Publication 78 while the IRS's own revocation file lists them as currently revoked, more than half of those revoked before 2019. Absence from Publication 78 is evidence of nothing, and presence is not evidence either. Verify current status with the IRS before relying on it.

What this page reflects

The registration facts above come from the IRS Business Master File published 13 October 2026 and read 26 October 2026, for every organization at once. Returns through tax year 2024, the newest we have parsed for this organization.