Grow2zero Farms

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
854311030
IRS 990 coverage
2022–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2021
Location
Long Beach, CA, USA
Phone
2136283353
Rating
81
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Food, Agriculture, and Nutrition N.E.C.

Reported finances

Revenue
$837,306
Expenses
$918,931
Assets
$28,034
Liabilities
$56,954

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

Leadership & pay

6 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Judi Gregory (Executive Director Board Member)

Highest reported compensation

  • Erin Harris (Program Manager): $115,397 total reported compensation
  • Leif Kemp (Farm Manager and Board Member): $92,032 total reported compensation
  • Kirsten Kelley (Program Manager): $79,798 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Our Vision at Grow2Zero FARMS is to empower local communities to improve human & environmental health by building access to local healthy food teaching regenerative farming & gardening practices and instilling principles of waste reduction and pollution prevention.

What it reported doing in 2025

Grow2Zero FARMS:23 LBFF NIFA - The grant is awarded by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture. The grant supports funding for internships for both farming and food preparation. The grant supports recovering landfill bound food collection and preparation into nutritious meals which are distributed during healthy meal prep workshops.

Operating model

Revenue model
Grant-funded. 68% 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

STRONG - 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 expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 88
  • Transparency & Controls: 90
  • Accountability: 69
  • Sustainability: 8
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 98.1%; rating input score 98
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

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; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 2 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 25
    • 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: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -9.7%; rating input score 13; 13th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.03; rating input score 2; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 2.03; rating input score 1; 1st percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 32.8%; rating input score 6; 6th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 58.7% per year; rating input score 100; 96th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 36.2% per year; rating input score 100; 93rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 20.2% per year; rating input score 100; 79th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 98.1% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 4 of 4 board members independent · 2 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $901K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $115K · 6 people listed
  • Consistency: 39 of 40 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 2 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 4 filing years from 2022 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 4 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 — Accountability: Governance controls: 5 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 13/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 2/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 1/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 6/100.