Digital Green Foundation

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
262418959
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
San Francisco, CA, USA
Phone
3017062648
Rating
80
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Management & Technical Assistance

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$13,505,265
Expenses
$15,209,659
Assets
$18,632,870
Liabilities
$2,633,471

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

Leadership & pay

19 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • RIKIN GANDHI (CEO & BOARD PRESIDENT)
  • RYAN OWEN (VICE PRESIDENT, DEVELOPMENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • RIKIN GANDHI (CEO & BOARD PRESIDENT): $311,490 total reported compensation
  • JOHN COLLERY (CHIEF PRODUCT OFFICER): $278,950 total reported compensation
  • ALESHA MILLER (CHIEF STRATEGY & GROWTH OFFICER): $274,578 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Digital green is creating a world where farmers use technology and data to build prosperous communities.

What it reported doing in 2024

Digital green combines artificial intelligence, data systems, and public private partnerships to help smallholder farmers improve productivity, income, and climate resilience. Building on its experience in community video-based extension, the organization advanced farmer chat an ai-powered assistant that provides free, localized, and climate-smart agricultural advice in multiple local languages through text, voice, and image-based interaction.during the year, farmerchat became the cornerstone of digital green's digital-first approach, supporting both farmers and frontline extension workers with actionable, trusted information tailored to local needs. (continued on schedule o)independent assessments indicated that the tool improved confidence, saved time, and helped users make better agricultural decisions, particularly benefiting women farmers and extension agents.digital green also strengthened its commitment to responsible ai development by releasing open-source tools and datasets, fine-tuning models for low-resource languages, and improving data privacy and governance frameworks to ensure transparency, accountability, and farmer control.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 91% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 77% for direct work, and 23% for grants.

The verdict

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. The filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad and expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 74
  • Transparency & Controls: 82
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 26
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 87.1%; rating input score 87
  • Program expense ratio: 76.8%; rating input score 77
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 87.5%; rating input score 88; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 5 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 83
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • Independent consultant: Pass
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: 3 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 38
    • Claims monitoring procedures: Pass
    • Requires narrative reports: Fail
    • Conducts field audits: Pass
    • May suspend future funding: Fail
    • Requires financial reports: Pass
    • Conducts site visits: Fail
    • Requires grant agreements: Fail
    • May require repayment: Fail
  • Grant itemization coverage: 99.7%; rating input score 100; 35th 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; 66th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 9 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 100
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: Pass
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -12.6%; rating input score 8; 8th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.23; rating input score 43; 43rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.14; rating input score 67; 67th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 13.1%; rating input score 12; 12th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 10.1% per year; rating input score 100; 71st percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 8.6% per year; rating input score 100; 68th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 8.1% per year; rating input score 100; 55th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 87.1% of revenue deployed · 76.8% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 10 of 10 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $11.7M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $311K · 19 people listed · 5 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 1 contractor listed · $469K reported
  • Consistency: 37 of 39 current checks pass · 2 findings to review
  • Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 14 filing years from 2010 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 11 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 4 filed related-organization links
  • 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.

  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight: 5 of 8 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 8/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 43/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 12/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Foreign grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Schedule R controlled transactions itemized did not reconcile in the filed values.