Groundwork Rva Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
462191744
IRS 990 coverage
2015–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2014, Form 990-N 2013
Location
Richmond, VA, USA
Phone
8043212789
Rating
77
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Community, Neighborhood Development

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$1,420,857
Expenses
$1,109,732
Assets
$472,684
Liabilities
$165,696

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

12 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • RICK ST JOHN (PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • ROB JONES (EXECUTIVE DI): $83,857 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Mission: to cultivate the next generation of urban conservationists in richmond, Virginia. Vision: groundwork rva works with richmond youth to increase environmental, economic, and social well-being in neighborhoods by transforming blighted and neglected open spaces into vibrant public assets. Groundwork rva seeks four tangible results, which are deeply interrelated; success in one of these factors leverages success in the other three. 1. Youth are prepared for success. Groundwork rva helps youth prepare for educational and/or career success by designing, interpreting, building, and maintaining richmond's green network. Youth leave our programs with knowledge and job skills that will serve them. Some will successfully enter the green workforce, and over time, move into new or advanced roles. Some will go to college, and over time, may find work in conservation, environmental science, or a related field. 2. Racial equity. Groundwork rva promotes racial equity and social justice by culti

What it reported doing in 2024

Green workforce in 2024, groundwork rva's green workforce was a full-year, workplace-based workforce training program. Green workforce provided over 6,000 hours of paid work to richmond young adults the youth continued building their skills and training in the safe use of tools and equipment, while learning valuable leadership, critical thinking and project planning and management skills. Green workforce teens designed and installed rain capture systems, and permeable pathways in community gardens and other facilities around the city, to help manage storm water run-off and improve the health of the james river. These young people - showed up every day, collaborated in designing the day's and week's tasks, drove to sites, loaded and unloaded the necessary tools and equipment, used those tools and equipment safely to build, install or maintain elements of the built environment and often managed the volunteers who came to help. Through the green workforce, groundwork rva helped prepare youth for careers in carpentry and building trades, landscaping and green infrastructure as well as created opportunities for teens to build skills in financial management. The green workforce's "water-to-thrive," fee-for-service efforts grew in 2024, with water and care being provided to over 300 trees in the city of richmond.

Operating model

Revenue model
Grant-funded. 89% of the money available for current operations came from government grants.
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 a large share of available resources goes toward mission work. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 64
  • Transparency & Controls: 90
  • Accountability: 84
  • Sustainability: 50
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 59.5%; rating input score 60
  • Program expense ratio: 76.1%; rating input score 76
  • Fundraising efficiency: $15.46 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 51; 51st 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: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd 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: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 21.9%; rating input score 78; 78th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.43; rating input score 20; 20th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.35; rating input score 22; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 7.6%; rating input score 45; 45th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 16.7% per year; rating input score 100; 78th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 19.4% per year; rating input score 100; 85th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 21% per year; rating input score 100; 83rd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 59.5% of revenue deployed · 76.1% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 10 of 10 board members independent · 5 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $845K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $84K · 12 people listed
  • Consistency: 28 of 28 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 9 filing years from 2015 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 51/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 20/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 22/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 45/100.