Groundswell International Inc

What it reported doing in 2025

Production, gain access to productive assets, and diversify their livelihoods, which in turn improves their families food security, incomes, and resilience. -Strengthen local markets and increase farmers incomes through savings and credit groups and community-based agricultural enterprises that add value to locally grown crops. -Nourish vulnerable families by explicitly integrating gender equity and nutrition into agricultural programs. Our holistic approach links agroecological farming to family nutrition. -Support citizens to engage with local decision-makers on enabling local policies and produce influential case studies, policy briefs, and impact reports based on learning across our network, to share with other stakeholders to expedite the necessary transition to agroecology. West Africa -- We continued to work with our partners Agrecol Afrique in Senegal; Association Nourrir Sans Detruire (ANSD) in Burkina Faso; the Center for Indigenous Knowledge and Organizational Development (CIKOD) in Ghana; and Sahel Eco in Mali. In 2025, we added two new partners to our network both based in Northern Ghana, Urbanet and Center for Ecological Agriculture and Livehoods. Our West Africa program focuses on supporting dryland farming households to transition from conventional agriculture to agroecological and regenerative farming and food systems that allow them to mitigate and adapt to climate change; strengthen local management of biodiversity; and generate nature-based solutions to increase food security and incomes. In 2025, across these four Sahelian countries, Groundswell- supported programs that engaged 254,654 smallholder farmers through cascading, farmer-to-farmer training; contributed to regenerating 231,747 hectares of land; and programs benefitted 1,853,223 people. Latin America and the Caribbean - In 2025, we worked with partners EkoRural in Ecuador; Partenariat pour le Developpement Local (PDL) in Haiti; Qachuu Aloom and Asociacion Comunitaria Flor del Cafe aldea El Durazno in Guatemala; and Asociacion de Comites Ecologicos del Sur del Honduras (ACESH) and Vecinos Honduras. In these five countries, in 2025, we supported 17,233 smallholder farmers to improve their farming, create sustainable rural livelihoods, and strengthen their communities resilience. Groundswell programs with partners in the region benefitted 112,080 people (about the seating capacity of the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum) and helped regenerate 5797 hectares of land.

Financial Efficiency

• Mission deployment rate: 81.6%; rating input score 82
• Program expense ratio: 88.7%; rating input score 89
• Fundraising efficiency: $17.41 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 54; 54th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

• Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
• Pay-setting controls: 0 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 0
  • Compensation committee: Missing
  • Independent consultant: Missing
  • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
  • Written employment contract: Missing
  • Compensation survey or study: Missing
  • Board or committee approval: Missing
• Foreign activity oversight: 5 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 62
  • Claims monitoring procedures: Pass
  • Requires narrative reports: Pass
  • Conducts field audits: Pass
  • May suspend future funding: Fail
  • Requires financial reports: Pass
  • Conducts site visits: Pass
  • Requires grant agreements: Fail
  • May require repayment: Fail
• Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 75th percentile among comparable filings
• 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: 8 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 100
  • 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: Pass
  • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

• Operating margin: 8.3%; rating input score 51; 51st percentile among comparable filings
• Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.89; rating input score 30; 30th percentile among comparable filings
• Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.01; rating input score 78; 78th percentile among comparable filings
• Officer compensation ratio: 8.3%; rating input score 39; 39th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

• Program expense growth: 9.7% per year; rating input score 100; 59th percentile among comparable filings
• Revenue growth: 10.8% per year; rating input score 100; 68th percentile among comparable filings
• Asset growth: 15.4% per year; rating input score 100; 75th percentile among comparable filings