Community Food Project Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
884101330
IRS 990 coverage
2025–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Brattleboro, VT, USA
Phone
8023806680
Rating
76
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Food Programs

Reported finances

Revenue
$12,483
Expenses
$393,642
Assets
$13,432
Liabilities
$0

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

Leadership & pay

4 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Lutricia Neuse (Executive Director)

Highest reported compensation

  • Lutricia Neuse (Executive Director): $95,680 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Community Food Project supports the local food system and builds community food sovereignty by making local, ecologically-grown food available to everyone regardless of their ability to pay. We support local farms by leveraging grant funding to purchase local food for distribution, make food available to everyone through our farmstand, and serve local seniors and families in need through our free farm shares. Our Community Garden provides space and technical support to more than 40 families to grow food for themselves and their neighbors.

What it reported doing in 2025

Community Garden and Gathering Space: We coordinate, maintain, and provide technical support to a 45-plot Community Garden. The Community Garden provides garden space, water, and a tool bank to allow gardeners from all socio-economic backgrounds to grow food for themselves and their families and neighbors. Additionally we have created an event and recreation space next to the garden for program events and so that families can gather and children can safely play while their parents work in the garden. We partner with another local nonprofit to provide seeds and vegetable starts to gardeners who would not otherwise be able to access them. The revenue is from a modest annual garden fee and gardener donations.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 63% 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

SUPPORTED - 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: 89
  • Transparency & Controls: 90
  • Accountability: 65
  • Sustainability: 12
  • Growth: NotEnoughData

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

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: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 75%; rating input score 75; 25th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 4 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • 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: -3,053.4%; rating input score 2; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.03; rating input score 8; 8th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 66; 66th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 24.3%; rating input score 8; 8th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: Limited
  • Revenue growth: Limited
  • Asset growth: Limited

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 100% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 3 of 4 board members independent · 4 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $394K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $96K · 4 people listed
  • Consistency: 19 of 19 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 2 filed schedules
  • 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: 3 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 2/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 8/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 8/100.