City Seed Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 830397621
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2013–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- New Haven, CT, USA
- Phone
- 2037733736
- Rating
- 85
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Nutrition
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $1,392,657
- Expenses
- $1,354,313
- Assets
- $1,628,637
- Liabilities
- $1,129,410
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
15 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- CHRIS HEITAMN (VICE PRESIDENT)
Highest reported compensation
- SARAH MILLER (EXCUTIVE DIRECTOR): $53,212 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
To engage the community in growing a local food system that supports economic development, community development, and sustainable agriculture. We aim to accomplish this through a suite of food-based programs, including: improving access to fresh, healthy food through coordinating and managing a network of farmers markets with options for all income levels; providing cooking and nutrition education, with a focus on maximizing nutrition benefits; offering food-based business incubation services and supporting small-scale food entrepreneurs; and supporting culinary exchange through cooking classes as part of our sanctuary kitchen program.
What it reported doing in 2024
Since launching the city's first farmers market in 2004, we have grown a network of year-round markets that connect over 60 Connecticut farmers and producers to 60,000 customers, that accepts all nutrition support benefits. Cityseed's farmers markets offer a platform, along with subsidized vending fees and no-cost market kits, for local businesses, entrepreneurs, and farmers to exhibit and sell their products, prioritizing those from new haven neighborhoods and thus circumventing barriers to entry that rising entrepreneurs face.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 73% 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
STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and expenses are high relative to revenue.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 88
- Transparency & Controls: 86
- Accountability: 84
- Sustainability: 43
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 90%; rating input score 90
- Program expense ratio: 92.6%; rating input score 93
- Fundraising efficiency: $27.92 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 67; 67th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 92.9%; rating input score 93; 19th 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; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 5 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 62
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Fail
- Document-retention policy: Fail
- 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: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 2.8%; rating input score 44; 44th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.2; rating input score 49; 49th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.69; rating input score 11; 11th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 3.9%; rating input score 55; 55th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 14.2% per year; rating input score 100; 74th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 14.6% per year; rating input score 100; 78th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 24.3% per year; rating input score 100; 86th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 90% of revenue deployed · 92.6% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 13 of 13 board members independent · 5 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $1.3M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $53K · 15 people listed
- Consistency: 26 of 27 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 11 filing years from 2013 to 2024
- 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.
- 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.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 8 not reported.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 44/100.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 49/100.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 11/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 55/100.