The Finest Beauty
Legal name: Alchemy Initiative Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 270399304
- IRS 990-EZ coverage
- 2014–2019
- Official website data refreshed
- Jul 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990-EZ 2019
- Location
- Pittsfield, MA, USA
- Phone
- 4133440816
- Rating
- 92
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Religion Related N.E.C.
- Affiliation
- Religious (unspecified)
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $78,803
- Expenses
- $111,805
- Assets
- $0
Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2019. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
8 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- ALISON BASDEKIS (PRESIDENT)
People named in this filing
- MARLEE BARRY (DIRECTOR)
- SUSAN KELLY (DIRECTOR)
- REGINA BURGIO (CLERK)
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 2019. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Alchemy initiative is an urban model of sustainability and community in the heart of downtown pittsfield. Alchemy initiative provides knowledge and activities related to food, farming, and urban beautification as well as to serve as an educational resource for the community.
What it reported doing in 2019
Education and activities related to food, farming, and urban beautification. The organization manages a farmers market and provides programs to ensure food access to the community. The organization also runs an agricultural based youth development program. Being an educational resource for the community is the primary focus of alchemy initiative's vision.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 89% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- 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
STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Expenses are high relative to revenue and total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 93
- Transparency & Controls: 100
- Sustainability: 7
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
- Program expense ratio: 82.2%; rating input score 82
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 51st percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -41.9%; rating input score 14; 14th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0; rating input score 2; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: Limited
- Officer compensation ratio: 58.5%; rating input score 2; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 21.9% per year; rating input score 100; 87th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 13.7% per year; rating input score 100; 89th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 5.4% per year; rating input score 100; 60th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: Mission, programs, and operating context captured from the official website.
- Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 82.2% of spending went to programs
- Governance: Filed governance answers
- Accomplishments: 1 filed program accomplishment · $92K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 8 people listed
- Consistency: 5 of 5 current checks pass
- Schedules: 4 filed schedules
- Filing history: 6 filing years from 2014 to 2019
- 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 — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 14/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 2/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 2/100.