Berkshire Grown Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
200482070
IRS 990 coverage
2013–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2012
Location
Great Barrington, MA, USA
Phone
4135280041
Rating
82
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Food, Agriculture, and Nutrition N.E.C.

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$1,337,834
Expenses
$1,345,874
Assets
$551,344
Liabilities
$87,967

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

13 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • SARAH GARDNER (PRESIDENT)
  • PETER PLATT (VICE PRESIDENT)
  • MARGARET MOULTON (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)

Highest reported compensation

  • MARGARET MOULTON (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $94,107 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Through events, workshops, promotions, advocacy and education highlighting locally-grown and produced food, the organization helps to create a thriving local food economy.

What it reported doing in 2025

The organization supports local farms and agriculture by providing education and technical resources, educates the public about the use of local agriculture through publications and education programs, and preserves land and farms. The organization partners with food access organizations and local school districts to address the needs of low-income families and the availability of locally-grown food. In partnership with food pantries and other community organizations, the organization works to establish a year-round farm-to-food-access buying exchange between food access organizations and local farmers.1. Farm to food accesscollaborative program with berkshire bounty that purchases fresh food from 31 local farms for distribution to local food access sites. In 2025, this program served 23 food pantries, community meal sites, and school that helped feed 14,000 people each week. 2. Indoor winter farmers marketsberkshire grown runs 8 winter farmers markets - two in north adams (november and december) and 6 in housatonic (november through april). Winter farmers markets accept snap and hip and offer market match to further match snap benefits. In 2025, we had 5,522 shoppers across all 8 markets. 3. Berkshire mobile farmers marketcollaborative program with five local partners funded by a 3-year usda grant that brings fresh, local products to low income and/or rural communities with limited access to fresh food across berkshire county. Shoppers self-select payment level that fits their budget-full retail, 50% retail, or free, food-pantry level. In 2025, we served 4,813 people through this program.

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.

The verdict

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 74
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 90
  • Sustainability: 28
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 78.1%; rating input score 78
  • Program expense ratio: 77.6%; rating input score 78
  • Fundraising efficiency: $13.58 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 45; 45th 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; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 6 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 75
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -0.6%; rating input score 28; 28th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.41; rating input score 21; 21st percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.16; rating input score 28; 28th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 7%; rating input score 46; 46th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 16.9% per year; rating input score 100; 74th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 16.3% per year; rating input score 100; 77th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 5.5% per year; rating input score 100; 38th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 78.1% of revenue deployed · 77.6% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 12 of 12 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $1M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $94K · 13 people listed
  • Consistency: 31 of 31 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 12 filing years from 2013 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.

  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 45/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 8 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 28/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 21/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 28/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 46/100.