Farm Training Collective Nyc Inc

What it reported doing in 2024

Urban Agriculture Education Program: Farm School NYC (FSNYC) offers urban agriculture education programming rooted in food justice and social justice. The Citywide Certificate Program is a one-year urban agriculture training program grounded in food justice. This program is rooted in New York City on Lenape land and utilizes a multi-dimensional, hands-on approach that centers BIPOC land traditions and community building. The program begins with a foundation in popular education, botany, and food justice, before immersing in courses that follow the flow of a growing season. This year-long program is the bulk of our recurring programming, offered in-person at partner sites and online. FSNYC also offers additional courses open to the general public.Citywide Certificate Program Re-Visioning (January - December 2024): FSNYC paused Citywide Program courses in 2024 to gather, review, and implement over 10 years of feedback from participant surveys, conversations, and input from facilitators. We identified and updated curricula for key courses which connect the land and people through discussion and collective study and key courses that invite urban growers into technical and community-based growing practices.From months of assessing our capacity, feedback, data, and funding, we moved forward with creating components of a new Urban Agriculture Certificate (UAC) Program, those being Food Justice Foundations (FJF) courses, which focus on food justice, advocacy, and understanding the systems within our food system and Introduction to Land Stewardship (ILS) courses which include urban agriculture technical-training courses focused on soil health, irrigation, propagation, and crop management methods.We identified a third component, a Food & Land Immersion, creating a three-part Certificate Program that supports both a farmer-mentor and apprentice in a pathway for farming, advocacy and/or cooperatives, among other opportunities.Farm School NYC offered additional courses for the general public in 2024, including: Cultivating Connections Part 1 (March 2024): A discussion focused on increasing the accessibility of USDA programs for underserved growers. Participants learned how to connect with agencies like the Natural Resources Conservation Services, local soil and water conservation districts, the NYC Farm Service Agency, and local cooperative extension offices. This program was hosted by Catalyst Collaborative Farm and created in partnership with Black Farmers UnitedNYS, National Association of Conservation Districts, Farm Service Agency (FSA), and Pecan Street.Cultivating Connections Part 2 (April 2024): A follow up to Part 1 where there was a focus on advocacy within federal, state and city related urban agriculture movements, uplifting the collaborators including FSA Executive Director, Catalyst Collaborative Farm and Black Farmers United. Participants will learn about the Farm Bill and how to share their perspectives at different levels of government.Raising Animals (April 2024): This course centers animal husbandry (chickens, rabbits, goats, pigs) on small scale farms, sharing cost and planning considerations to raise animals, and sharing information on livestock related FSA programs.Cultivating Prosperity (May 2024): This course focuses on beginning businesses, introducing FSA programs as potential funding sources, and providing business templates for preparation for any funding streams.Lilac Fest (May 2024): Catalyst Collaborative Farm organized and collaborated with Farm School NYC to host an event where many urban growers and rural partners joined for ceremony with lilac season, outreach and networking, and exposure to resources and partners. FSNYC connected with several NYC-based growers and shared our multitude of projects with people invested in the connection between urban to rural agriculture.Introduction to Beekeeping (June 2024): This course was FSNYCs first official beekeeping course covering topics on care, stewardship, and

Financial Efficiency

• Mission deployment rate: 95.4%; rating input score 95
• Program expense ratio: 72%; rating input score 72
• Fundraising efficiency: $15.59 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 52; 52nd 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: 100%; rating input score 100; 76th 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; 63rd 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: -32.4%; rating input score 5; 5th percentile among comparable filings
• Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.43; rating input score 20; 20th percentile among comparable filings
• Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.29; rating input score 25; 25th percentile among comparable filings
• Officer compensation ratio: 44.9%; rating input score 3; 3rd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

• Program expense growth: 41.2% per year; rating input score 100; 94th percentile among comparable filings
• Revenue growth: 32.1% per year; rating input score 100; 93rd percentile among comparable filings
• Asset growth: 27% per year; rating input score 100; 89th percentile among comparable filings