Grow Further
Legal name: Grow Further Club
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 824177100
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2018–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2020
- Location
- Seattle, WA, USA
- Phone
- +1 206-390-6744
- Rating
- 58
- Verdict
- MIXED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Human Service Organizations
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $595,764
- Expenses
- $563,272
- Assets
- $355,531
- Liabilities
- $1,351
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
9 people listed
Highest reported compensation
- JENNIFER DINE (CHIEF OF STA): $131,205 total reported compensation
- VENKATRAMANA PEGADARAJU (VP FOR DEVEL): $113,000 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Grow Further is a donor-driven platform that identifies and scales the agricultural breakthroughs needed to feed a changing planet.
What it reported doing in 2024
In 2024, grow further awarded two new grants and managed two ongoing grant-funded projects aiming to benefit smallholder farmers in developing countries in the areas of climate change adaptation, nutrition, and farm income. Universities and research institutions in ghana, tanzania, zimbabwe, and ethiopia used our grants to complete a socioeconomic study of bambara groundnut cultivation and a set of farmer trainings, and made significant progress towards releasing improved bambara groundnut seeds, a crop disease detection app, a crop disease database, iron-rich pearl millet seeds, and a set of recommendations on wheat cultivation.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 98% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- Distribution model
- Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 59% for direct work, and 41% for grants.
The verdict
MIXED - The filed numbers largely add up and most voting board members are independent. 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: 26
- Transparency & Controls: 85
- Accountability: 74
- Sustainability: 42
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 28.7%; rating input score 29
- Program expense ratio: 28.6%; rating input score 29
- Fundraising efficiency: $1.67 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 5; 5th 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: 4 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 50
- Claims monitoring procedures: Pass
- Requires narrative reports: Pass
- Conducts field audits: Fail
- 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; 76th 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: 3 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 38
- 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: Missing
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 5.5%; rating input score 51; 51st percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.63; rating input score 29; 29th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 75; 75th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 43.4%; rating input score 3; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 40% per year; rating input score 100; 94th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 28.7% per year; rating input score 100; 92nd percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 26% per year; rating input score 100; 88th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 3 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 5 operating locations identified
- Where the money goes: 28.7% of revenue deployed · 28.6% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 5 of 5 board members independent · 3 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $161K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $131K · 9 people listed
- Consistency: 28 of 28 current checks pass
- Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors and foreign activity
- Filing history: 5 filing years from 2018 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
- 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 — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 29/100.
- High — Financial Efficiency: Program expense ratio scored 29/100.
- Moderate — Accountability: Governance controls: 4 of 7 not reported.
- High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 5/100.
- Review — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight: 4 of 8 not reported.
- Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 51/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 29/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 3/100.