Center for a Green Future Aka Growing to Give
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 821075994
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2023–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2022, Form 990-N 2017
- Location
- Brunswick, ME, USA
- Phone
- 2075043489
- Rating
- 76
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Food Programs
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $222,201
- Expenses
- $234,503
- Assets
- $344,574
- Liabilities
- $134
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
19 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Patricia Carton (Vice President)
- Christine Sloan (President)
Highest reported compensation
- ELLEN RODGERS (MANAGING DIRECTOR): $44,750 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Growing to Give's mission is to harness the power of our community to grow organic vegetables and give them to those in need while practicing, teaching, and promoting climate-friendly farming.
What it reported doing in 2025
Grew a record 18,500 lbs of fresh vegetables for donation to underfed Mainers, bringing cumulative lbs since launch to more than 124,000 lbs. Provided more than 2,700 student contact-hours to nearly 700 individual students. Engaged more than 60 businesses in sponsorships and on-farm volunteer groups.Benefited from over 4,000 hours of valuable help from approximately 300 volunteers. Partnered with Merrymeeting Food Council, Goodwill Industries, University of Maine Cooperative Extension, Brunswick-Topsham Land Trust, and others to host the Farm Skills Training Program to train eligible high school students and adults in skills for farm jobs. Through our partnerships with gleaning organizations, supplied food to more than 30 access sites in six Maine counties.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 94% 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.
- Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.
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 expenses are high relative to revenue.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 64
- Transparency & Controls: 86
- Accountability: 88
- Sustainability: 35
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 70.8%; rating input score 71
- Program expense ratio: 66.1%; rating input score 66
- Fundraising efficiency: $5.7 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 24; 24th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 92.9%; rating input score 93; 26th 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: -5.5%; rating input score 24; 24th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.47; rating input score 51; 51st percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 52; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 19.1%; rating input score 19; 19th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 14.2% per year; rating input score 100; 76th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 10.9% per year; rating input score 100; 71st percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 20.7% per year; rating input score 100; 83rd percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 70.8% of revenue deployed · 66.1% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 18 of 18 board members independent · 5 of 7 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $155K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $45K · 19 people listed
- Consistency: 26 of 27 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 3 filing years from 2023 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.
- High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 24/100.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 24/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
- Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 51/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 19/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 52/100.