Blue Deer Center

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
223741704
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Margaretville, NY, USA
Phone
8455863225
Rating
73
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Arts Service Organizations and Activities

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$400,315
Expenses
$388,633
Assets
$1,037,957
Liabilities
$770,080

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

Leadership & pay

4 people listed

People named in this filing

  • Jen Collins (Secretary)
  • Sharon Safia Johnson (Director)
  • Amanda Kerner (Executive Dir.)

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

As an expression of Sacred Fire, we offer a home for shared experiences of transformation and healing by embracing the knowing of the natural world.

What it reported doing in 2025

Plant Spirit Medicine includes several offerings: An introductory on-demand online course-Growing Awareness of Nature. designed to give people a direct experience of the aliveness of nature and natures ancestral relationship with humans. Healer Training hybrid course: online and in person courses. Our ancestors lived in this way, where nature was alive and there was no illusion of separation from nature. They had a relationship with the spirits of nature and would call upon them for healing and wisdom. This ancient practice, long forgotten in the modern world, was remembered, revitalized, and reintroduced by Blue Deers Founder, the late teacher and healer, Eliot Cowan, and has proven to be as effective in todays world as in past times.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 77% 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 a large share of available resources goes toward mission work. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and program spending has declined or grown slowly.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 61
  • Transparency & Controls: 86
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 48
  • Growth: 0

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 64.8%; rating input score 65
  • Program expense ratio: 65.4%; rating input score 65
  • Fundraising efficiency: $7.53 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 30; 30th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 91.7%; rating input score 92; 20th 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: 7 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 100
    • 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: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 2.9%; rating input score 43; 43rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.67; rating input score 66; 66th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.74; rating input score 6; 6th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 67; 67th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -4.9% per year; rating input score 0; 16th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -1.9% per year; rating input score 0; 14th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -0.3% per year; rating input score 0; 21st percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 64.8% of revenue deployed · 65.4% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 3 of 3 board members independent · 7 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $254K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 4 people listed
  • Consistency: 24 of 25 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 16 filing years from 2010 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • 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.

  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 30/100.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 43/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 6/100.