Founders Garden Club of Dallas

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
237039786
IRS 990 coverage
2019–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2021
Location
Dallas, TX, USA
Phone
2144181003
Rating
84
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Garden Club, Horticultural Program

Reported finances

Revenue
$178,620
Expenses
$176,892
Assets
$668,020
Liabilities
$61,445

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

Leadership & pay

8 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • WHITNEY GROGAN (President)
  • ELAINE LINDH (Vice President)

People named in this filing

  • CAROLE JORDAN (PARLIAMENTARIAN)
  • PLEASANT MCCULLOCH (Treasurer)
  • WHITNEY GROGAN (President)

Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.

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

Overview

Mission

The purpose of the GCA is to stimulate the knowledge and love of gardening, to share the advantages of association by means of gardening, to share the advantages of association by means of education meetings, conferences, correspondence and publications, and to restore, improve, and protect the quality of the environment through educational programs and action in the fields of conservation and civic improvement.

What it reported doing in 2024

There is a flower show every other year. The primary mission of a flower show is to showcase artistic and horticulture excellence while also serving as a platform for education and community engagement.There are Open Meetings every other year and the Open Meeting is usually during a year when we do not have a flower show. The Open Meetings are typically our largest fundraisers. For an Open Meeting Founders will bring in a speaker to educate our members and invited guests about a topic that relates to our mission.Founders also hosts 7 general meetings a year for our members. At the general meetings our members learn about topics of interest related to our mission.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 61% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
Distribution model
Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 65% for direct work, and 35% for grants.

The verdict

STRONG - 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: 79
  • Transparency & Controls: 89
  • Accountability: 88
  • Sustainability: 53
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 88.4%; rating input score 88
  • Program expense ratio: 89.2%; rating input score 89
  • 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: 100%; rating input score 100; 80th 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: 5 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 71
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • 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: 1%; rating input score 42; 42nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 3.78; rating input score 74; 74th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.09; rating input score 27; 27th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 69; 69th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 17.1% per year; rating input score 100; 81st percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 4.7% per year; rating input score 100; 51st percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 9% per year; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 88.4% of revenue deployed · 89.2% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 8 of 8 board members independent · 5 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $158K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 8 people listed
  • Consistency: 19 of 20 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
  • Filing history: 5 filing years from 2019 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 2 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.

Key Signals

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

  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 42/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 27/100.