Garden School Foundation Inc C/o Missionwell Llc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 203023426
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2013–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2012
- Location
- Pasadena, CA, USA
- Phone
- 8185780001
- Rating
- 81
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $1,402,498
- Expenses
- $1,101,013
- Assets
- $895,485
- Liabilities
- $54,950
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
11 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- RACHEL BLACK (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)
Highest reported compensation
- RACHEL BLACK (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $75,274 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Garden school foundation provides in-depth garden-based education to youth at title i schools in los angeles, strengthening connections between food justice, environmental awareness, and community health. We currently serve eight title i elementary schools, now reaching over 3,000 students and their families each year.
What it reported doing in 2024
Garden school foundation's programs include seed to table (cooking and gardening classes), cafeteria to compost (food waste prevention), and free on-campus farmers markets (food relief). Our seed to table program of garden-based education served 3,500 students with 1,740 hours of instruction at nine title i elementary schools during the 2024-25 school year. The program included both cooking and gardening classes that teach ecology, science, nutrition, and kitchen skills. In 2024-25, gsf's cafeteria to compost food waste prevention and food redistribution program operated at 5 school sites, diverting 43,240 pounds of food waste from landfills, generating 18,000 pounds of fresh compost, and redistributing 23,829 pounds of edible leftover lunch items to school families. During the 2024-25 school year, gsf hosted 35 markets across two school sites and distributed 66,062 pounds of food to approximately 6,434 families. The organization also hosted 1,260 volunteers and 11 interns.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 72% 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
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 fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 73
- Transparency & Controls: 92
- Accountability: 79
- Sustainability: 59
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 67.9%; rating input score 68
- Program expense ratio: 86.3%; rating input score 86
- Fundraising efficiency: $17.39 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 55; 55th 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: 90.9%; rating input score 91; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 5 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 62
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Fail
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- 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: Fail
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 21.5%; rating input score 78; 78th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.81; rating input score 36; 36th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.06; rating input score 49; 49th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 6.8%; rating input score 48; 48th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 13.5% per year; rating input score 100; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 15.3% per year; rating input score 100; 79th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 19.4% per year; rating input score 100; 81st percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 67.9% of revenue deployed · 86.3% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 10 of 11 board members independent · 5 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $950K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $75K · 11 people listed
- Consistency: 26 of 26 current checks pass
- Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 11 filing years from 2013 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 8 not reported.
- Review — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 55/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 36/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 48/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 49/100.