At Ease Orchard Ltd

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
853261288
IRS 990 coverage
2024–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2023, Form 990-N 2022
Location
Wilkinson, IN, USA
Phone
2623881261
Rating
70
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Vocational Counseling

Reported finances

Revenue
$249,720
Expenses
$256,066
Assets
$35,235
Liabilities
$64,781

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

6 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Joseph C Ricker (President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Sara Creech (Agricultural Executive Trainer): $3,800 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

At Ease Orchard is dedicated to empowering veterans and their families through the transformative power of farming. We offer hands on training, top tier resources, and unwavering support because we believe farming can heal and strengthen communities. Our programs are designed to build resilience, promote sustainability, and foster deep connections to the land and each other.

What it reported doing in 2024

Presentation and tabling at the AgrAbility National Training Workshop discussing opportunities with NRCS for individual farms as well as opportunities with NCRS Grants for Organizations. Over 250 attendees mix of Beginning Farmers, Educators and non-profits. Presentation and discussion at Veterans IN Farming workshop with over 90 attendees that were Indiana based Veterans or their family members. Indiana NRCS Outreach presented NRCS opportunities and table program opportunities. Conducted 29 in person classes, webinars, and farm visits. Over 200 Veterans participated in the events. We connected with over 600 new members during the year, created Youtube channel for webinar recordings and dontated over 60 doxen eggs, 20 chickens, and over 60lbs of fres produce to local food pantry.

Operating model

Revenue model
Grant-funded. 88% of the money available for current operations came from government grants.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 98% 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 - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 72
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 50
  • Sustainability: 22
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 82.1%; rating input score 82
  • Program expense ratio: 80.1%; rating input score 80
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th 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: 66.7%; rating input score 67; 18th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 2 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 25
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -2.5%; rating input score 33; 33rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.14; rating input score 8; 8th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 1.84; rating input score 2; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 1.5%; rating input score 36; 36th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: Limited
  • Revenue growth: 79.8% per year; rating input score 100; 99th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 88.4% per year; rating input score 100; 99th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 82.1% of revenue deployed · 80.1% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 4 of 6 board members independent · 2 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $205K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $4K · 6 people listed
  • Consistency: 22 of 22 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
  • 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 — Accountability: Governance controls: 5 of 7 not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 33/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 8/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 2/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 36/100.