Gathering Ground Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
872492428
IRS 990 coverage
2022–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-N 2021
Location
Neptune, NJ, USA
Phone
6093580245
Rating
79
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Community Coalitions

Reported finances

Revenue
$489,123
Expenses
$579,708
Assets
$605,573
Liabilities
$24,211

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

Leadership & pay

7 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • MARIA CARNEMOLLA (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)

Highest reported compensation

  • MARIA CARNEMOLLA (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $130,680 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Gathering ground creates irresistible, justice-centered gatherings that ignite dialogue, learning, action, and collaboration, in solidarity with all people, and in service to the creation of a fair and just world.

What it reported doing in 2025

Our flagship program is the community-wide call to collaboration (c2c) which welcomes between 150 and 400+ community members for a 2-day meeting. We utilize a modified version of open-space technology a dynamic and democratic way of meeting used worldwide as a tool to tackle complex problems that require diverse viewpoints to solve them. Gathering in this way allows participants to collaborate and strategize in a manner that calls for the input and leadership of all, moving away from the hierarchical manner in which decisions tend to be made, and leading to concrete actions and solutions.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 94% 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

SUPPORTED - 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: 73
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 95
  • Sustainability: 23
  • Growth: 40

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 81.6%; rating input score 82
  • Program expense ratio: 68.2%; rating input score 68
  • Fundraising efficiency: $11.25 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 40; 40th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th 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; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 7 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 88
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • 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: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -18.5%; rating input score 12; 12th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.04; rating input score 42; 42nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.04; rating input score 29; 29th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 22.5%; rating input score 16; 16th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 48.1% per year; rating input score 100; 95th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -31.1% per year; rating input score 0; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -21.8% per year; rating input score 0; 3rd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 81.6% of revenue deployed · 68.2% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 6 of 6 board members independent · 7 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $395K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $131K · 7 people listed
  • Consistency: 23 of 23 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 4 filing years from 2022 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.

  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 40/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 12/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Audit committee oversight not reported.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 42/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 16/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 29/100.