Coongie

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
843766902
IRS 990 coverage
2020–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-N 2020
Location
BOulder Creek, CA, USA
Phone
8312173787
Rating
73
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Education N.E.C.

Reported finances

Revenue
$874,423
Expenses
$721,634
Assets
$445,643
Liabilities
$1

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

4 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Niraj Mehta (President)
  • Jaren Hutchings (Vice President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Rebekah Kuby (secretary/ED): $121,252 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 provide free educational resources, access to free workshops and training, and research/collaboration facilities for those who are committed to the bettermnet of the planet.

What it reported doing in 2024

Our main programs in 2024 were: Community Building 2024 Cost: $106,881.86 Number Served: This year we focused on building and rebuilding as we transitioned to the next chapter. Our building projects focus on cutting edge, ecological, creative building techniques using reclaimed, recycled materials and offer free community workshops that teach essential skills while building community resilience and connection. These buildings serve as an educational example as well as offer a unique natural experience to our guests. The main building focus this year was the forest temple, which will be used forretreats, classes, meditation and more. We also began building our research lab, which supports our primary science pillar and is an essential part of the research institute. Coongie Research Institute 2024 Cost: $55,723.92 Number Served: At the heart of our organization is the Coongie Center, which is our center of operations and the land around it, once known as The University of the Trees, that we are responsible for stewarding and regenerating. We are in the process of transforming it into a retreat center, educational center, research institute, ashram, community commons and more. This year we finally were able to rebuild the roof and start repairing damages from the 2023 storms. Farm program 2024 Cost: $28, 597.75 Number Served: We do regenerative work to preserve and restore this land and to produce and harvest healthy food, plant starts and seeds that we offer for free along with permaculture workshops and cooking classes to give our community the opportunity to eat and grow healthy food. We continued to expand the gardens, planting a new apple orchard, clearing new trails and restoring the land.Disaster Relief 2024 Cost: $6,003.42 Number Served: Coongie responds to the greatest needs of our community and provides first response disaster relief and long term recovery support. This includes providing resources and advocacy particularly for people who would have fallen through the cracks; organizing community leadership meetings with various agencies; coordinating contractors, volunteers and community resources; helping match resources available to the people who need them most; providing transportation, evacuation support, and housing support; and building efficient resource lists to help make his process easier for everyone moving forward. We were able to bring our top builders to Maui to support building a home for a family of 6 that had lost their home. Admin and Accounting 2024 Cost: $6,870 Number Served: This year we transitioned into a new chapter as a newer nonprofit, and that included making sure we were set up with all the business and accounting pieces properly in place. We hired professional nonprofit accountants to help us fine tune our accounting and make sure everything was in order. This process was an opportunity to see our operations from a new perspective that will be important moving forward.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 100% 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 total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 74
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 39
  • Sustainability: 55
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 77.4%; rating input score 77
  • Program expense ratio: 93.8%; rating input score 94
  • 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: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 66.7%; rating input score 67; 14th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 0 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 0
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Fail
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 17.5%; rating input score 73; 73rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.62; rating input score 29; 29th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 83; 83rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 16.8%; rating input score 19; 19th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 10.7% per year; rating input score 100; 65th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 0.1% per year; rating input score 100; 15th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 3.9% per year; rating input score 100; 34th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 77.4% of revenue deployed · 93.8% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 2 of 3 board members independent · 0 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $677K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $121K · 4 people listed
  • Consistency: 21 of 21 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 5 filing years from 2020 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.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • High — Accountability: Governance controls: 7 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 29/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 19/100.