Calypso Farm & Ecology Center

Overview

Mission

To encourage local agriculture and environmental awareness through hands-on education in natural and farm ecosystems

What it reported doing in 2025

Hunter school garden - maintaining an educational garden that is a learning space for the school during the school year and a food production garden during the summer (the community roots gardening and leadership program for teens and young adults takes place in the garden during the summer months and involves approximately 10 people annually). Overall - the program serves over 350 students at 1 school.

Operating model

Revenue model
Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 100% of reported program-service expenses outside its grant, affiliate-payment, and member-benefit lines. This expense classification does not rule out separately announced grant awards.

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
920169368
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Headquarters
Ester, AK, USA
Phone
9074510691
Rating
74
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Agricultural Programs

Official website

The verdict

SUPPORTED - The filed numbers largely add up and most voting board members are independent. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 55
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 82
  • Sustainability: 55
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 53.7%; rating input score 54
  • Program expense ratio: 69.6%; rating input score 70
  • Fundraising efficiency: $5.57 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 17; 17th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • 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; 65th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 4 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 57
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 23.6%; rating input score 76; 76th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.34; rating input score 53; 53rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.2; rating input score 24; 24th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 30.6%; rating input score 8; 8th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 10.2% per year; rating input score 100; 56th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 9.7% per year; rating input score 100; 58th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 12.9% per year; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 53.7% of revenue deployed · 69.6% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 7 of 7 board members independent · 4 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $619K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $68K · 16 people listed
  • Consistency: 28 of 28 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 16 annual filings from 2010 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 4 filed money-flow records
  • Grant readiness: Federal tax and exclusion status, award history, and grant-maker relationships.
  • People: Everyone the filings name, and which of them the filings identify by more than a name.

Leadership & pay

16 people listed

Highest reported compensation

  • CHRISTIE SHELL (DIRECTOR): $68,500 total reported compensation
  • SUSAN WILLSRUD (DIRECTOR): $68,500 total reported compensation
  • THOMAS ZIMMER (DIRECTOR): $68,500 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: FY2025.