Giving Gardens of Indiana Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
274908995
IRS 990 coverage
2024–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2023, Form 990-N 2020
Location
Columbia City, IN, USA
Rating
79
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Agricultural Programs

Reported finances

Revenue
$308,081
Expenses
$239,718
Assets
$198,320
Liabilities
$4,558

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

Leadership & pay

9 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Tiffany Herron (President)
  • Paul McAfee (Vice President)
  • Rachel Alexander (Executive Director)

Highest reported compensation

  • Rachel Alexander (Executive Director): $40,800 total reported compensation
  • Jessica Burkett (Education Director): $40,800 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Giving Gardens of Indiana provides gardens to the community to help them better connect to their food and then share any excess to those in need. Every year in May there is a plant giveaway. They give out organic garden starts to the community free of charge. They bring students to the garden to begin their gardening journey and expand their knowledge.

What it reported doing in 2025

Giving Gardens of Indiana provided gardens to the communtiy to help them connect to their food and shared excess food to those in need. Giving Gardens had many educational opportunities for children, teens and adults.

Operating model

Revenue model
Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
Distribution model
Cannot be determined from the filing. The filing does not provide enough consistent spending detail to tell whether the nonprofit works directly or through others.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - 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 some filed totals do not add up.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 76
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 68
  • Sustainability: 50
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 77.2%; rating input score 77
  • Program expense ratio: 99.3%; rating input score 99
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 91.7%; rating input score 92; 20th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 2 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 22
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: Fail
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Fail
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 22.2%; rating input score 73; 73rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.83; rating input score 36; 36th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.02; rating input score 33; 33rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 34%; rating input score 9; 9th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 17.9% per year; rating input score 100; 81st percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 28.5% per year; rating input score 100; 92nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 49.6% per year; rating input score 100; 95th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 77.2% of revenue deployed · 99.3% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 7 of 7 board members independent · 2 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $234K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $41K · 9 people listed
  • Consistency: 22 of 24 current checks pass · 2 findings to review
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 2 filing years from 2024 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 3 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.

  • High — Accountability: Governance controls: 7 of 9 not reported.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Functional expense sum did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Fund balance restriction sum did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 36/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 9/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 33/100.