Adobe in Action
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 900600529
- IRS 990-EZ coverage
- 2022–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990-EZ 2025, Form 990-N 2021
- Location
- Silver City, NM, USA
- Phone
- 5055140293
- Rating
- 70
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Land Resources Conservation
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $76,056
- Expenses
- $65,899
- Assets
- $72,823
- Liabilities
- $0
Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
8 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Lisa Morey (Board Co-President)
- Dan Krause (Board Co-President)
- Kurt Gardella (Executive Director and Instructor)
People named in this filing
- Lisa Morey (Board Co-President)
- Dan Krause (Board Co-President)
- Karl Ben Loescher (Secretary)
Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.
Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
We promote earthen building and home ownership through education, field-support and diffusion of knowledge. Owner-builders are supported with the planning and construction of their adobe homes through education. Educational activities include online courses, in-person workshops, a podcast about adobe construction, and a biennial earthbuilding conference. Owner-builder support is also provided through design assistance, building plan consultation, and assistance with building codes and permitting.
What it reported doing in 2025
Adobe in Action Courses - Adobe in Action's online certificate classes and field workshops focus on new construction and promote the continued qualification of adobe craftspeople through theoretical and practical coursework. To reach a wide range of students, our classes are offered as a blend of online and live instruction and synchronize with ongoing Adobe in Action owner builder projects. A certificate of completion is presented for each class successfully completed. Upon completion of all 8 classes (a total of 24 credits), the student is presented with a final Adobe in Action Certificate in Adobe Construction. We strive to align our classes with existing academic and professional earthbuilding institutions to contribute to a nationally recognized certification in adobe construction. In 2025 we served 202 students in 8 online courses and 10 field workshops / volunteer work days taught by 2 instructors and 3 independent contractors.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Earned-program. 91% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
- 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.
The verdict
SUPPORTED - The filed numbers largely add up and a large share of available resources goes toward mission work. Program spending has declined or grown slowly and total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 63
- Transparency & Controls: 82
- Sustainability: 53
- Growth: 60
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 59.7%; rating input score 60
- Program expense ratio: 68.8%; rating input score 69
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 51st percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Limited
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 13.4%; rating input score 65; 65th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.11; rating input score 50; 50th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 66; 66th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 66.2%; rating input score 2; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: -0.9% per year; rating input score 0; 45th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 2.2% per year; rating input score 100; 59th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 12% per year; rating input score 100; 74th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 59.7% of revenue deployed · 68.8% of spending went to programs
- Governance: Filed governance answers
- Accomplishments: 4 filed program accomplishments · $45K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 8 people listed
- Consistency: 9 of 9 current checks pass
- Schedules: 2 filed schedules
- Filing history: 4 filing years from 2022 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 2 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.
Key Signals
Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.
- High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 50/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 2/100.