Common Ground Collective

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
821739501
IRS 990 coverage
2022–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-N 2020
Location
Haiku, HI, USA
Phone
8088560906
Rating
80
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Nutrition

Reported finances

Revenue
$1,003,089
Expenses
$901,183
Assets
$367,362
Liabilities
$41,315

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

Leadership & pay

8 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • MEGAN NAKASHIMA (PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • JENNIFER KARACA (EXECUTIVE DI): $137,694 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

It is our mission at common ground collective to transform maui into a bountiful and productive island that benefits both the real-life settings, and hands-on assistance; we will help to elevate distressed and underprivileged members of community that are not otherwise able to receive assistance or obtain education in these areas. By spreading awareness, education and providing assistance, we will work to increase food security and economic opportunities here in our beautiful island community and set-up the framework to bring this model to other much deserving areas in Hawaii and abroad.

What it reported doing in 2025

Cgc's outreach and education common ground collective provides community outreach and education to strengthen maui's local food system. Outreach and education activities are included in all of our programs and include: hands-on learning workshops, volunteer engagement, and public presentations promoting sustainable agriculture and food security. Our programs share resources with residents, landowners, and local partners to support local food production and resilience. These efforts increase awareness of local food systems and encourage community participation in agriculture. Maui fire relief programs & projects in response to the maui fires, common ground collective supported food relief and recovery efforts for affected communities. The organization provided fresh local food, purchased product from impacted producers, and assisted community resource hubs with supplies and logistics. These efforts helped maintain food access and support local food producers during disaster recovery. Maui emergency feeding taskforce common ground collective co-led the maui emergency feeding taskforce to coordinate emergency food distribution and disaster response. The taskforce engaged community partners, nonprofits, and government entities to improve food security systems during crises. A lessons-learned report was developed to support improved resilience and preparedness for future emergencies. Feasibility study for the maka'ainana market: a co-op food hub and grocery store common ground collective is conducting a feasibility study for the development of a cooperative food hub and grocery store to expand access to local food and support agricultural producers. The project includes community surveys, stakeholder outreach, facility design planning, and market analysis. The initiative aims to create centralized infrastructure to strengthen maui's local food economy and increase long-term food security.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 65% 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

STRONG - The filed numbers largely add up and a large share of available resources goes toward mission work. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 68
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 90
  • Sustainability: 39
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 62.2%; rating input score 62
  • Program expense ratio: 67.8%; rating input score 68
  • Fundraising efficiency: $22,201.27 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 100; 100th 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: 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: 6 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 75
    • 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: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 10.2%; rating input score 56; 56th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.41; rating input score 20; 20th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.11; rating input score 33; 33rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 15.3%; rating input score 24; 24th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 12.9% per year; rating input score 100; 66th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 21.3% per year; rating input score 100; 84th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 29.7% per year; rating input score 100; 89th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 62.2% of revenue deployed · 67.8% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 7 of 7 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $611K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $138K · 8 people listed
  • Consistency: 29 of 29 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 4 filing years from 2022 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.

  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 8 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 20/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 56/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 24/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 33/100.