Friends of the State Botanical Garden of Georgia Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
237182479
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Athens, GA, USA
Phone
7065421244
Rating
71
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Single Organization Support

Reported finances

Revenue
$291,310
Expenses
$191,443
Assets
$2,300,195
Liabilities
$76,410

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

5 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • KAREN RADDE (President)
  • PAMELA BRACKEN (Vice President)
  • EILEEN HALE (Past President)

People named in this filing

  • KAREN RADDE (President)
  • PAMELA BRACKEN (Vice President)
  • KAY PETROFF (Secretary)

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 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Support financially and through programs and events the state botanical garden of Georgia located at the university of Georgia in athens, ga.

What it reported doing in 2025

Donations of funds to the state botanical garden of Georgia to assist in ongoing expansion projects, maintenance and beautification within the garden and educational events to heighten awareness of the garden, plants and the environment. A quarterly newsletter is distributed to members.

Operating model

Revenue model
Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
Distribution model
Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 51% for direct work, and 49% for grants.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. A relatively small share of voting board members are independent and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 87
  • Transparency & Controls: 87
  • Accountability: 6
  • Sustainability: 77
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 99.8%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 95%; rating input score 95
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 90.9%; rating input score 91; 15th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 81st percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 0%; rating input score 0; 8th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 1 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 14
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Fail
    • Audit committee oversight: Fail
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 34.3%; rating input score 83; 83rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 12.02; rating input score 91; 91st percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.03; rating input score 30; 30th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 67; 67th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 3.5% per year; rating input score 100; 44th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 3.1% per year; rating input score 100; 36th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 3.5% per year; rating input score 100; 37th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 99.8% of revenue deployed · 95% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 0 of 5 board members independent · 1 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $182K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 5 people listed
  • Consistency: 17 of 18 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules · includes grants
  • Filing history: 15 filing years from 2010 to 2025
  • 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: Independent voting board scored 0/100.
  • High — Accountability: Governance controls: 6 of 7 not reported.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 30/100.