The Young Men's Christian Associati of Kingston and Ulster County

What it reported doing in 2024

The ymca farm project has been operating for over six years. The ymca farm is an urban, educational farm located at the ymca in midtown kingston, New York. We use organic growing methods to grow food for our immediate community. We sell our hyper local fruits and vegetables at farm stands in the lobby of the y. We work with pre-schoolers through high-schoolers, bringing young people to the farm to get their hands dirty as they learn, work, explore and play on the farm. The farm project also hosts community work days and farm based events, providing opportunities for people of all ages to contribute to the farm. During spring, summer, and fall our youth development program offers 14-18 year olds the opportunity to work on our farm, help run our farm stands and gain valuable employment experience while earning an hourly wage. During the winter months, november-march, we run cooking crew for area youth. Cooking crew meets once a week to prepare a meal from scratch. Youth work together to cook a multi-course meal. We then sit down and share a meal as a group. We invite community members and leaders to sit down and break bread with us as well. Youth participants earn a stipend for their participation. The farm offers field trips for area schools, scouting groups, homeschool groups and more. We offer field trips in may-october and they typically last 1.5 hours. Children will engage in real work around the farm-it might be seeding, transplanting, harvesting, watering, or clearing a bed. We always include a sensory tour as well which engages children to explore using sight, sound, taste, smell and touch. Bark = b.a.r.k. = beautifying and restoring kingston is coordinated through the farm educator. Bark youth participants learn skills related to environmental stewardship and community engagement. B.a.r.k. Works around the city of kingston cleaning up, painting, planting, and beautifying. The farm and its programs are subsidized entirely by private and public grants, city of kingston funding, county funding of summer youth employment, donations and local fundraisers.

Financial Efficiency

• Mission deployment rate: 63%; rating input score 63
• Program expense ratio: 73.5%; rating input score 74
• Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

• Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
• Pay-setting controls: 1 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 17
  • Compensation committee: Missing
  • Independent consultant: Missing
  • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
  • Written employment contract: Missing
  • Compensation survey or study: Missing
  • Board or committee approval: Pass
• Foreign activity oversight: Limited
• Grant itemization coverage: Limited
• Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
• Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

• Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
• Governance controls: 5 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 62
  • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
  • Whistleblower policy: Pass
  • Document-retention policy: Pass
  • CEO compensation review process: Pass
  • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
  • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
  • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
  • Audit committee oversight: Missing
  • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

• Operating margin: 15%; rating input score 71; 71st percentile among comparable filings
• Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.26; rating input score 66; 66th percentile among comparable filings
• Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.08; rating input score 63; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
• Officer compensation ratio: 3%; rating input score 68; 68th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

• Program expense growth: 3.3% per year; rating input score 100; 29th percentile among comparable filings
• Revenue growth: 5% per year; rating input score 100; 41st percentile among comparable filings
• Asset growth: 7.4% per year; rating input score 100; 47th percentile among comparable filings