Friends of Tucson's Birthplace

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
271326401
IRS 990 coverage
2016–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2015, Form 990-N 2009
Location
Tucson, AZ, USA
Phone
5203219810
Rating
84
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Historical Societies, Related Historical Activities

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$808,539
Expenses
$838,852
Assets
$751,026
Liabilities
$337,120

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

Leadership & pay

13 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • JESUS GARCIA (VICE PRESIDENT)
  • ROBERT FLEMING (PRESIDENT)

People named in this filing

  • JESUS GARCIA (VICE PRESIDENT)
  • ROBERT FLEMING (PRESIDENT)
  • DIANA HADLEY (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 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

To preserve, honor, protect, restore & promote the cultural heritage of tucson's birthplace. This includes mission garden, a living agricultural museum that seeks to inspire people to connect to this land by reclaiming agricultural traditions for our community in a changing world. Mission garden honors history and revitalizes cultural practices to inform and ensure an adaptable, sustainable, healthy future. Mission garden provides workshops and public programs designed to raise awareness of desert adapted heritage trees, crops & edible plants.

What it reported doing in 2024

Celebrating agricultural and food traditions- agave heritage festival, pueblo de maiz, dia de san juan menlo park community festival, san ysidro wheat festival, indigenous winter solstice traditions, raramuri rancheria established.educational programs and workshops-herb walks, tohono o'odham agricultural days, archaeology day, propogation workshops, tree care workshops, agave roasting demonstration, tasting history: monthly informative, interactive public sessions entitled tasting history featuring crops, plants, weeds, recipes, tastings, demonstrations of what is currently in harvest, chinese vegetable cooking workshop, tohono o'odham basketry workshop, mexican medicine making workshop, bird walks, trip to oaxaca and the jardin etnobotanico, native american art fair, dragonfly day, seed swap with pima county public library, summer sunsets special hours and programsoutreach and collaborative partnerships- tucson unesco city of gatronomy, community food bank, Arizona sonora desert museum, Arizona state museum, san xavier co-op, tohono o'odham community college agricultural extension, iskashitaa refugee network, national park service- de anza trail, ironwood tree experience, university of Arizona, americorps. San augustin farmer's market, santa cruz valley national heritage area, mural project, pascua yaqui tribe, hualapai tribeawards & grants-tucson pima county historical commission historic preservation award for the celebration of traditional tohono o'odham agricultural practices at mission garden, the stonewall fund at the community foundation of southern Arizona, national park service, southwestern foundation for education and historic preservation, colonial dames of america preservation and education of tucson region's agricultural heritagepress-fotb mission garden saw an increase in media coverage that inlcuded articles in the New York times and boston globe. For a full listing, including video coverage see https://www.missiongarden.org/media-pressgarden activities- fotb mission garden is open to the public tuesday through saturday wth extended hours in the winter. Tours are offered thursdays and saturdays and special tours can be accomodated with advance notice. Approximately 17 school field trips were held servicing 624 students from multicultural classrooms.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 83% 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.

The verdict

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 79
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 88
  • Sustainability: 35
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 89.5%; rating input score 89
  • Program expense ratio: 78.3%; rating input score 78
  • Fundraising efficiency: $8.01 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 31; 31st 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: 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: 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: -3.7%; rating input score 26; 26th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.9; rating input score 39; 39th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.45; rating input score 18; 18th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 81; 81st percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 1.7% per year; rating input score 100; 25th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 12.5% per year; rating input score 100; 73rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 20% per year; rating input score 100; 81st percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 89.5% of revenue deployed · 78.3% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 13 of 13 board members independent · 5 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $657K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 13 people listed
  • Consistency: 26 of 26 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 8 filing years from 2016 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: Resolved incoming and outgoing counterparties from filed money flows.
  • 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.

  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 31/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 26/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 39/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 18/100.