Benevolence Farm
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 263685507
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2014–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2013, Form 990-N 2010
- Location
- Graham, NC, USA
- Phone
- 3366398436
- Rating
- 78
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Standard
- Sector
- Temporary Housing
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $1,063,141
- Expenses
- $596,551
- Assets
- $1,162,495
- Liabilities
- $120,987
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
9 people listed
People named in this filing
- TRACY HENDERSON-BETHEL (SECRETARY)
- ALEXANDRA OAK (VICE CHAIR)
- MISTY RUFFING (DIRECTOR)
Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Benevolence farm seeks to cultivate leadership, promote sustainable livelihoods, and reap structural change with individuals impacted by the criminal legal system in North Carolina.
What it reported doing in 2025
Our program provides a space for women and gender expansive people returning home from prison and jail to process, heal, and prepare for whats next in a rural setting surrounded by nature. Benevolence farm is one of the few places across the state that accepts people of all criminal convictions. After each persons arrival, they set their own goals and staff works alongside them to identify the right resources to succeed. Because each resident leads the way in their reentry, we see about 15% of our alumni return to incarceration within two years, and almost all who are re-incarcerated are for a technical violation regarding their probation or parole. Ultimately, we hope to measure the extent to which our alumni thrive in and with their communities of choice. Our primary program areas include: safe and secure housing, living wage employment via our social enterprises, trauma-informed community resources, advocacy and outreach.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 85% 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
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 some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 59
- Transparency & Controls: 93
- Accountability: 88
- Sustainability: 74
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 44.8%; rating input score 45
- Program expense ratio: 81.7%; rating input score 82
- Fundraising efficiency: $24.43 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 61; 61st percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 90.9%; rating input score 91; 10th 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; 64th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 5 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 71
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- 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: 43.9%; rating input score 89; 89th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.95; rating input score 64; 64th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.1; rating input score 34; 34th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 78; 78th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 17% per year; rating input score 100; 75th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 14.9% per year; rating input score 100; 74th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 8.3% per year; rating input score 100; 49th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 44.8% of revenue deployed · 81.7% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 8 of 8 board members independent · 5 of 7 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $487K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 9 people listed
- Consistency: 27 of 28 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 12 filing years from 2014 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
- 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.
- Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 45/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 34/100.