Fertile GroundWorks
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 455415064
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2023–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2022, Form 990-N 2011
- Location
- Livermore, CA, USA
- Phone
- 9253449090
- Rating
- 76
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Food, Agriculture, and Nutrition N.E.C.
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $199,551
- Expenses
- $134,121
- Assets
- $280,412
- Liabilities
- $0
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
7 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Brenda Kusler (Executive Director)
- Angela Ko (President and Director)
Highest reported compensation
- Brenda Kusler (Executive Director): $49,176 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Our mission is to teach and empower people and communities to increase their health, wellbeing, and self-reliance by growing food for themselves and others, organically and sustainably. (Continued on Schedule O, line 07.)
What it reported doing in 2024
The last half of 2024 was a busy time for us. During our lessons with 583 individuals, including 183 young people, we finished planting the last 2,750 plants, mostly melons, beans and winter squashes, of the 7,067 summer crop plants we planted in our 94 beds. We also finished preparing eight new no-till beds (2,400 sq. ft. of beds) in Fertile GroundWorks Wish garden wish garden beds and planting the last 34 requested fruit trees in them. These trees were varieties requested during interviews with our food distribution partners clients when we asked what kind of produce do you wish to see in the pantry? Starting in September our lessons included replacing 6,900 summer plants, by gleaning and amending 90 beds with the 21,142 winter crop plants we planted into the prepared beds. We left four beds of kale, collards, and chard plants to harvest into 2025. All these plantings allowed us to harvest 16,914 pounds of fresh produce to provide to our neighbors.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 77% 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
SUPPORTED - 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 program spending has declined or grown slowly.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 65
- Transparency & Controls: 93
- Accountability: 79
- Sustainability: 68
- Growth: 60
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 62%; rating input score 62
- Program expense ratio: 91.6%; rating input score 92
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 91.7%; rating input score 92; 19th 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; 63rd 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: 32.8%; rating input score 84; 84th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.09; rating input score 60; 60th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 80; 80th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 36.7%; rating input score 8; 8th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: -31.2% per year; rating input score 0; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 12.2% per year; rating input score 100; 77th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 14.5% per year; rating input score 100; 76th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 62% of revenue deployed · 91.6% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 6 of 6 board members independent · 4 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $123K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $49K · 7 people listed
- Consistency: 22 of 23 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 2 filing years from 2023 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
- 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 — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 8/100.