2025-11-10T09:11:00-08:00 2024-12-31 222453554 STRINGARI AND STRINGARI CPA PC 4464 GENOA AVENUE VINELAND NJ 08361 990 2024-01-01 223741033 LEATHERBACK TRUST INC LEAT 2604816304 5736 KINLOCK PLACE FORT WAYNE IN 46835 FRANK PALADINO PRESIDENT 2604816304 2025-11-04 true true Brian Stringari P00574590 8566913673 2024 2025-03-06 01:10:19Z FRANK PALADINO 5736 KINLOCK PLACE FORT WAYNE IN 46835 1573985 false X www.leatherback.org X 2000 IN To save the Leatherback turtles and other sea turtles from extinction through a variety of means. 12 12 0 500 0 0 910387 1478305 0 11750 77439 18241 922137 1573985 78000 63715 0 0 0 1841 469715 401281 547715 464996 374422 1108989 3078703 4162949 31452 2938 3047251 4160011 To save the Leatherback turtles and other sea turtles from extinction through a variety of means. Please see the attached Statement. false false 8685 0 0 Conservation: Consolidation of Las Baulas Parque Nacional in Costa Rica and protection of approximately 5,000 Leatherback sea turtles. 393458 63715 0 Research and Education: Research data collected on the population biology and migration of approximately 500 sea turtles. Outreach to approximately 1,000 local and regional Costa Ricans regarding sea turtle biology and environmental science. 402143 true true false false false false true false false true true false false false false false false false false true true false false false false false false false true false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false true 0 0 true 0 true false true CS false false false false false false false false false false X 12 12 true false false false false false false true true false false true true true true true true false false false X FRANK PALADINO 2604816304 5736 KINLOCK PLACE FORT WAYNE IN 46835 X JAMES R SPOTILA CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD 10.00 X X 0 0 0 FRANK V PALADINO PRESIDENT 15.00 X X 0 0 0 HAROLD AVERY VP, FRESHWATER TURTLES 2.00 X X 0 0 0 THOMAS ELZEY TREASURER 3.00 X X 0 0 0 MARGARET KRUESI SECRETARY 1.00 X X 0 0 0 ROBERT RAYMAR BOARD MEMBER 1.00 X 0 0 0 JOHN SPOTILA BOARD MEMBER 1.00 X 0 0 0 EDUARDO CARILLO JIMENEZ BOARD MEMBER 1.00 X 0 0 0 VINCE SABA BOARD MEMBER 1.00 X 0 0 0 SHAYA HONARVAR BOARD MEMBER 1.00 X 0 0 0 KATHERINE L MANSFIELD BOARD MEMBER 1.00 X 0 0 0 VICTOR MONTALVO GUADAMUZ BOARD MEMBER 1.00 X 0 0 0 false false false 1478305 1478305 77439 0 77439 Coffee Sales 453000 18241 0 0 18241 18241 1573985 0 0 95680 62300 62300 1415 1415 8685 8685 0 0 17075 0 17075 0 17761 17761 0 0 2047 0 2047 0 1436 0 1436 0 26613 23851 2762 0 109747 85848 23899 0 16395 16395 0 0 10175 8140 2035 0 Boat Rental 14500 14500 0 0 Supplies & Materials 29845 28004 0 1841 Satellite Time 1727 1727 0 0 Compensation & Taxes (Costa Rica) 120733 120733 0 0 24542 12784 11758 0 464996 402143 61012 1841 76250 106522 7178 4360 2604958 283388 2337965 2321570 657310 1730497 3078703 4162949 31452 2938 31452 2938 X 1719484 1764549 1327767 2395462 3047251 4160011 3078703 4162949 1108989 3771 X true X false true false X 0 218200 308913 550598 303502 478305 1859518 0 0 218200 308913 550598 303502 478305 1859518 898200 961318 38 21 5735 11750 77439 94983 0 1224 975 5160 10950 18241 36550 1991051 0.48280 0.35200 X 0 0 0 Other Addl Info Part II, Line 1 - Unusual Grants - 2023 - $500,000 and $106,885 - 2024 - $1,000,000 Pt II Ln 10 Other Income Part II, Line 10 Description: Other Income 2020: 1224. 2021: 975. 2022: 5160. 2023: 10950. 2024: 18241. RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED X true true 526391 1000000 67695 1594086 0 500000 26391 526391 0.00000 1.00000 0.00000 false false 0 2131135 2131135 375000 201515 173485 8523 8523 0 90300 73350 16950 2321570 Pt II, Line 5 The Organization has a policy to periodically monitor its conservation easements. Pt II, Line 9 No income or expenses resulted from conservation easements during 2024. No income was obtained from the conservation easement and no cost to maintain it was incurred beyond volunteer hours of Board members. Pt XII, Line 4b Management of the Organization considers the likelihood of changes by taxing authorities in its filed income tax returns and recognizes a liability for or discloses potential significant changes that management believes are more likely than not to occur, including changes to the Organizations status as a not-for-profit entity. Management believes the Organization met the requirements to maintain its tax-exempt status and has no income subject to unrelated business income tax, therefore no provision for income taxes has been provided in these financial statements. The Organizations income tax returns for the past three years are subject to examination by tax authorities, and may change upon examination. Pt V, Line 4 The Jean F. Schulz Endowment will be used for conservation, research, and education. true Central America 2 6 Program Services See Part III, Line 4A & 4B 310776 2 6 2 6 310776 310776 false false false false false false Pt I Line 2 The Leatherback Trust maintains records to substantiate the amounts of grants, the grantees eligibility to receive grants, and the selection criteria to award grants. The records consist of such items as emails, records of committee meetings, Board minutes indicating approval of grants, and requests for funding submitted by potential recipients. Recipients of grants provided technical reports on projects and financial reports. The President or members of the Board visit the recipients project, as deemed necessary, and the Trust invokes audit rights, as deemed necessary, to audit the use of the funds awarded. true Research and Post-Doctorate Grants 8 62300 0 FMV n/a Pt VI, Line 2 James R. Spotila and John Spotila (Board Members) have a family relationship. Margaret Kruesi and James Spotila (Board Members) are married. Pt VI, Line 11b All voting members of the Governing Board receive a copy of Form 990 before it is filed. The 990 is then reviewed by the President, the Treasurer, and Audit Committee and the administrative assistant. Pt VI, Line 19 The Organization makes its governing documents and financial statements available to the public upon request during regular business hours. Pt VI, Line 12c The Organization annually requests information from officers, directors, and key employees concerning interests that could give rise to financial conflicts. Other Other: The Leatherback Trust IRS Form 990 Statement - Part III, Line 1: The Leatherback Trust (TLT) is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit corporation with offices in Fort Wayne, IN and San Jose, Costa Rica as well as field stations at Playa Grande and Playa Cabuyal, Costa Rica. Its mission is to protect the endangered leatherback turtle, other endangered sea turtles, and freshwater turtles from extinction through a variety of creative means. TLT was instrumental in the establishment and consolidation of Parque Marino Nacional Las Baulas (Las Baulas National Park) on Playa Grande, Playa Ventanas and Playa Langosta, on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica. The Park protects the most important nesting beaches for the leatherback turtle in Central America. TLT participates in the acquisition of properties that are within the Park, in defending the integrity of the Park, and in stopping development and other activities that threaten the integrity of the Park and the survival of the leatherback turtle. TLT has developed a close working relationship with the Park Administration and the Natural Areas System (SINAC) of the Ministry of the Environment and Energy (MINAE), in order to protect the turtles and their nests from illegal activities and to enforce Park Regulations. Protection in the national park has improved considerably in the last few years. TLT also works with these other Costa Rican government agencies: Tempisque Conservation Area (ACT), Costa Rica Tourism Board (ICT), Servicio Nacional de Aguas Subterraneas, Riego y Avenamiento (SENARA), and Asociacion del Acueducto de Agua (ASADA). TLT also worked with the following Costa Rican NGOs: Instituto de Monteverde, Centro Cientifico Tropical de Puntarenas, Kuemar, Instituto de Oceanologia. Protecting the endangered leatherback in complicated and time-consuming. It involves carefully patrolling the most critical 3 miles of beach during the nesting season, which lasts from approximately October 15 through March 15. It involves measuring and tagging every nesting turtle, counting every egg laid, and removing to a guarded hatchery eggs from nests that are below the high-water line on the beach. It involves guarding every hatchling from predators, on their way into the Pacific Ocean. It involves measuring the temperature of nests during the 55-65 days it takes the eggs to hatch and making every effort to protect the nests from predators. It involves educating the Guanacaste community about the value of the turtles, their nests, and the life cycle of the East Pacific leatherback turtle, which has existed for over 100 million years. TLT has worked with the citizens of Guanacaste to align their economic interests with the preservation of Las Baulas National Park and the leatherback turtle. Although the number of nesting leatherbacks on Playa Grande has declined precipitously, it remains a primary or index beach for eastern Pacific leatherbacks. Four females nested there in 2024-2025, with an additional two leatherbacks nesting on the nearby secondary beach, Nombre de Jesus. Secondary nesting beaches, including our project further north on Playa Cabuyal, where we have collected data for 14 consecutive years, may be increasing in importance for leatherback nesting. The beach monitoring of The Leatherback Trust and the formation of the national park at Playa Grande during the 1990s stopped the poaching of leatherback eggs there. Over the next 20-25 years, tens of thousands of leatherback hatchlings returned successfully to the ocean, and we are now seeing young leatherback females return to these nesting beaches. Of the four females who nested in 2024-2025, three were new turtles, one was a re-migrant. Our data from temperature monitoring of the beach spans more than 30 years, and we have published scientific papers on the effects of global warming on sea turtle nesting. The past season had the lowest temperatures on record which favored production of males. The past season also brought extreme beach erosion following storms during the fall and early winter 2024. Keilor Corderos research on erosion on Playa Grande shows a loss of sand where leatherbacks formally nested in the south. Because we maintain a hatchery on the beach at Playa Grande, we were able to move leatherback nests, usually left in-situ on the beach, to our hatchery in 2025. They hatched successfully and would otherwise have been lost. TLT acquires significant goods and services locally and conducts English language and other education efforts in local communities. Our Community Outreach Manager worked with Las Baulas Park officials to develop a survey tool that meets Costa Ricas Blue Flag ecological standards for measuring trash in Las Baulas National Park and the beach now has Blue Flag Certification as does our field station. TLT co-sponsors the Baulas Festival in the Park with the neighboring community of Matapalo. As a result of support to local communities, poaching of eggs from nests within the Park has ended. Former poachers became ecotourism guides. TLT supports local pottery and other crafts throughout Guanacaste, funds research at several beaches outside of Playa Grande and Playa Ventanas and works in numerous other ways to build strong educational, economic and other relationships with the citizens of Costa Rica. TLT has expanded communications to Spanish speakers through translation of materials for a Spanish website www.leatherback.org/es, mirroring the original website in English. TLTs Dr. Bibi Santdrian Tomillo has developed a program of research and conservation on Playa Cabuyal north of Playa Grande. It is an important green turtle nesting beach and also hosts nesting leatherback turtles. TLT works with the Municipality of Liberia to help protect the beach for turtles and people. Research has indicated that the nearby waters host an important array of marine species and the land around Playa Cabuyal hosts numerous endangered species including jaguars. TLT continues to support a conservation project at El Jobo in northwest Costa Rica. TLT has also supported research on olive ridley turtles at Playa Ostional, a famous arribada beach and on eastern Pacific green turtles on beaches near Playa Grande. TLT has supported conservation of loggerhead turtles in Greece and leatherback and loggerhead turtles in South Africa and leatherback turtles in Vanuatu and New Zealand. It is now expanding its efforts in freshwater turtle conservation and continues research and conservation of turtles in the Philadelphia area. In 2013, TLT accepted a donation of 35 acres of land near Playa Grande that encompasses an important area of local dry forest down to the mangroves of the Tamarindo Estuary. TLT is developing a nature protection and education program for that land, now called the Murren Reserve that has a network of trails used for educational field trips of local students and students from the US. TLT maintains the Goldring-Gund Marine Biology Research Station at Playa Grande, which houses up to 24 researchers and volunteers safely in rustic but comfortable conditions. Several doctorates and masters degrees have been awarded for research at Playa Grande and other nearby beaches, and others are in progress, on topics including: the effects of nest temperature on the sex of turtles; the internesting paths of leatherback and other sea turtles; and the foraging areas of leatherback and other sea turtles. TLT hosted these US educational institutions at Goldring-Gund Station in 2025: Gatton Academy, Western Kentucky University, Bullis Charter School, and Purdue University at Fort Wayne. The Goldring-Gund Station is open to students year-round, so that high school and college students can conduct other research and learn conservation techniques involving other species when the leatherback turtle is not nesting. The protection of endangered species requires community outreach, and the formation of coalitions with other organizations. An active outreach program in Guanacaste, run by TLTs outreach manager, educates and mobilizes people, young and old, to care about and protect sea turtles. TLT also is a leader in a Costa Rica effort called Front for the Ocean, which advocates for protection of marine resources in Costa Rica. TLT has fostered communities throughout Guanacaste and Costa Rica enjoying the advantages of ecotourism. TLT works with the following ecotourism operators: WB Surf Camp, Tamarindo and Matapalo (ASOCAVE) tour guides, and Caravan Tours to include education on sea turtle conservation in their activities. TLT has supported improvements to the MINAE headquarters in Playa Grande. TLT also engages volunteer teams for local beach cleanups. TLT works with volunteers from CIEE, Veritas University and Have Fun Do Good to conduct beach cleanups at Playa Grande and Playa Ventanas. TLT also hires local residents of Matapalo to help in protection of the beach hatchery and in beach clean-up efforts. TLT supports legal efforts that have resulte