Groundcover News

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
273287108
IRS 990-EZ coverage
2020–2025
Forms available
Form 990-EZ 2025, Form 990-N 2019
Location
Ann Arbor, MI, USA
Rating
67
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Human Service Organizations

Reported finances

Revenue
$117,231
Expenses
$105,311
Assets
$46,162
Liabilities
$0

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

Leadership & pay

11 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Anna Gersh (Board President)
  • Greg Hoffman (Board Vice President)

People named in this filing

  • Lindsay Calka (Managing Director and Publisher)
  • Anna Gersh (Board President)
  • Greg Hoffman (Board Vice President)

Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.

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

Overview

Mission

Providing low barrier jobs, publishing community newspaper

What it reported doing in 2025

48 unique low income/homeless people were compensated to write for Groundcover News. 28 editions of Groundcover News were published. 104 hours of one on one editing and writing instruction.

Operating model

Revenue model
Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
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 - The filed numbers largely add up and program spending has grown recently. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and a relatively small share of total spending goes to programs.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 42
  • Transparency & Controls: 100
  • Sustainability: 45
  • Growth: 80

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 40.5%; rating input score 41
  • Program expense ratio: 45.1%; rating input score 45

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 10.2%; rating input score 56; 56th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.44; rating input score 34; 34th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 74; 74th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 57.9%; rating input score 3; 3rd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 9.3% per year; rating input score 100; 57th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 11.2% per year; rating input score 100; 67th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -11.2% per year; rating input score 0; 10th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 40.5% of revenue deployed · 45.1% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: Filed governance answers
  • Accomplishments: 2 filed program accomplishments · $48K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 11 people listed
  • Consistency: 9 of 9 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 5 filing years from 2020 to 2025
  • 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.

  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 41/100.
  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Program expense ratio scored 45/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 56/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 34/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 3/100.