Center for Rural Outreach and Public Services Inc

What it reported doing in 2025

Capacity building services for the ute mountain ute tribe provide leadership development, team development, problem solving, program design, strategic planning, social media consulting, grants management, evaluation and facilitation services for numerous federally funded grant programs awarded by hrsa, samhsa, usda, doj, doe, hhs, fhwa, dot, doi, and more. In 2015 crops orchestrated the first ever ute mountain native national partnership retreat that was attended by 20 tribal leaders, 20 national partners and 40 federal agencies to benefit 2,100 low-income members of the tribe. In 2023 crops planned and implemented the tribes second native national partnership retreat called nuchu: planning our vision that prioritized 8 major capital projects with an estimated 240m in new funding needs and the creation of over 500 good paying jobs in the next 5 years. Over 50 federal, state and private funding agencies attended the event including 20 tribal leaders. Crops has helped the tribe generate 180m in 10 years in new funding for broadband, transportation, new housing construction, housing rehabilitation, water, wastewater, education, healthcare, renewable energy, and economic development. In 2025 crops hosted a housing retreat and rural funders learning session for the ute mountain ute tribe with over 50 participantes at the housing retreat and 25 at the rural funders learning session. The two combined events produced over 4.25m in new grants for the tribe within 6 months. Also, in 2025 crops held a similar strategic planning retreat with the blackfeet nation, a tribe of over 17,000 located in northwest Montana. The 3-day event was attended by over 50 tribal leaders and representatives from federal and state agencies. The results of the event were used to develop the tribes comprehensive economic development strategy plan which won 3 gold international anthem awards for business strategy, product, and innovative fund development. Crops was selected as one of the top 5 nonprofit organizations for quality and innovation by the anthem awards out of 2,000 nominations from 42 countries.

Financial Efficiency

• Mission deployment rate: 84.7%; rating input score 85
• Program expense ratio: 90.9%; rating input score 91
• Fundraising efficiency: $10.95 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 38; 38th 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: 100%; rating input score 100; 78th percentile among comparable filings
• 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 8 controls in place; rating input score 62
  • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
  • Whistleblower policy: Pass
  • Document-retention policy: Pass
  • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
  • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
  • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
  • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
  • Audit committee oversight: Missing
  • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

• Operating margin: 6.9%; rating input score 49; 49th percentile among comparable filings
• Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.24; rating input score 13; 13th percentile among comparable filings
• Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 88; 88th percentile among comparable filings
• Officer compensation ratio: 16.4%; rating input score 22; 22nd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

• Program expense growth: 15.6% per year; rating input score 100; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
• Revenue growth: 20% per year; rating input score 100; 83rd percentile among comparable filings
• Asset growth: 13.3% per year; rating input score 100; 65th percentile among comparable filings