Braided Seeds
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 852607807
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2024–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2023
- Location
- Tukwila, WA, USA
- Phone
- 2063550932
- Rating
- 60
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Environmental Education and Outdoor Survival Programs
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $312,734
- Expenses
- $306,805
- Assets
- $81,098
- Liabilities
- $0
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
12 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Taylor Shoecraft (Board President)
- Charissa Bass (Board Vice President)
- Ashleigh Shoecraft (Executive Director)
Highest reported compensation
- Ashleigh Shoecraft (Executive Director): $49,744 total reported compensation
- Erandy Bucio-Flores (Youth and Family Programs Coordinator): $27,268 total reported compensation
- Chioma Uruakpa (Youth and Family Programs Coordinator): $25,008 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Braided Seeds provides BIPOC opportunities for rest restoration and reconnection to the land. Specific services include distributing free Discover Passes to the BIPOC community partnering with schools to integrate Black-centered environmentalism and nature connection activities into the curriculum sponsoring rest retreats for low-income Black Indigenous and Latine community members resourcing participants with gear leading hiking camping and outdoor trips for BIPOC predominantly Black youth and working with communities to find local ways to connect with the natural world.
What it reported doing in 2025
Braided Seeds provided youth-centered outdoor education programs that increase equitable access to nature environmental education and culturally grounded learning opportunities for youth in King County and Pierce County. Youth participated in activities such as snowshoeing horseback riding kayaking youth campouts youth farming experiences and other hands-on educational programs that build environmental knowledge and confidence in outdoor spaces. Through partnerships with local organizations Braided Seeds also facilitated ongoing environmental education enrichment and weekly youth reclamation trips. These programs support environmental justice by expanding access to outdoor learning for communities historically excluded from environmental spaces while fostering youth leadership environmental stewardship and meaningful connections to land and place.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
- Distribution model
- Cannot be determined from the filing. The filing does not provide enough consistent spending detail to tell whether the nonprofit works directly or through others.
- Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.
The verdict
SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and most voting board members are independent. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and expenses are high relative to revenue.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 60
- Transparency & Controls: 47
- Accountability: 77
- Sustainability: 33
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 66.5%; rating input score 67
- Program expense ratio: 67.8%; rating input score 68
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 69.2%; rating input score 69; 0th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 1 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 17
- Compensation committee: Missing
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
- Written employment contract: Missing
- Compensation survey or study: Missing
- Board or committee approval: Pass
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: Limited
- Major donor itemization: Limited
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 4 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 44
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Fail
- Document-retention policy: Fail
- CEO compensation review process: Fail
- Other executive compensation review process: Pass
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Missing
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 1.9%; rating input score 40; 40th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.26; rating input score 15; 15th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 77; 77th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 36.3%; rating input score 7; 7th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 27.6% per year; rating input score 100; 88th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 30.8% per year; rating input score 100; 93rd percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 11.7% per year; rating input score 100; 68th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 66.5% of revenue deployed · 67.8% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 7 of 7 board members independent · 4 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $208K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $50K · 12 people listed · 1 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Consistency: 30 of 43 current checks pass · 13 findings to review
- Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes executive pay
- Filing history: 2 filing years from 2024 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 7 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.
- Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.
Key Signals
Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.
- Moderate — Accountability: Governance controls: 4 of 8 not reported.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 40/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 15/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 7/100.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Functional expense sum did not reconcile in the filed values.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Part IX CompCurrentOfficersDirectors column sum did not reconcile in the filed values.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Part IX FeesForServicesAccounting column sum did not reconcile in the filed values.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Part IX FeesForServicesLegal column sum did not reconcile in the filed values.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Part IX FeesForServicesManagement column sum did not reconcile in the filed values.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Part IX FeesForServicesOther column sum did not reconcile in the filed values.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Part IX InformationTechnology column sum did not reconcile in the filed values.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Part IX OfficeExpenses column sum did not reconcile in the filed values.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Part IX OtherEmployeeBenefits column sum did not reconcile in the filed values.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Part IX PayrollTaxes column sum did not reconcile in the filed values.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Part IX PensionPlanContributions column sum did not reconcile in the filed values.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Part IX Travel column sum did not reconcile in the filed values.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.