Homegrown Pathways Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
933147660
IRS 990 coverage
2024–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-N 2023
Location
Ridgway, CO, USA
Phone
9705962133
Rating
76
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Educational Services and Schools - Other

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$573,484
Expenses
$368,691
Assets
$245,096
Liabilities
$11,343

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

Leadership & pay

5 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • COLIN LACY (FOUNDER AND PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • COLIN LACY (FOUNDER AND PRESIDENT): $122,270 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Homegrown pathways was founded on the western slope of Colorado with a mission to drive economic mobility through quality, regional career pathways for rural youth, including entrepreneurial pathways. We believe the answer to the challenges of both individual economic mobility and Colorado business success resides in connecting and supporting homegrown talent into regional career and entrepreneurship pathways.

What it reported doing in 2025

General programs - the organization was launched via a federally funded planning process through three state-approved, americorps planning grants (serve Colorado), in partnership with 9 school districts, 6 higher education institutions, and the largest workforce center on the western slope. In 2024, this planning process led to the design and successful pilot of a new youth pre-accelerator model called spark lab. Through spark lab, homegrown pathways is focused on serving rural youth, age 15-19. The intended outcome is a future workforce of empowered individuals that have the self-efficacy, social capital, and entrepreneurial spirit to achieve economic mobility. Spark lab uniquely brings together a set of experiences, relationships and skills development that is entirely grounded in the ideas of the individual. This positions the model as a powerful and uncommon tool for individual purpose exploration, entrepreneurial mindset cultivation, and durable skills development.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 100% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 96% 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 - A large share of total spending goes to programs and the filed numbers largely add up. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 73
  • Transparency & Controls: 93
  • Accountability: 57
  • Sustainability: 55
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 58.6%; rating input score 59
  • Program expense ratio: 91.1%; rating input score 91
  • Fundraising efficiency: $136.43 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 88; 88th 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: 96.2%; rating input score 96; 47th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 80%; rating input score 80; 21st percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 2 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 25
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: Fail
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 35.7%; rating input score 85; 85th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.66; rating input score 31; 31st percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.05; rating input score 44; 44th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 33.2%; rating input score 6; 6th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 30.7% per year; rating input score 100; 89th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 66% per year; rating input score 100; 97th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 155.2% per year; rating input score 100; 100th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 58.6% of revenue deployed · 91.1% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 4 of 5 board members independent · 2 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $336K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $122K · 5 people listed
  • Consistency: 30 of 30 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
  • Filing history: 2 filing years from 2024 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • 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.
  • Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 59/100.
  • High — Accountability: Governance controls: 5 of 7 not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 31/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 6/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 44/100.