Kind Kitchen Group

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
933151331
IRS 990 coverage
2025–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-N 2024
Location
Durham, NC, USA
Phone
3239483621
Rating
77
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Agricultural Programs

Reported finances

Revenue
$85,685
Expenses
$121,142
Assets
$17,980
Liabilities
$0

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

Leadership & pay

4 people listed

People named in this filing

  • SAVANNAH BOWMAN (VICE CHAR)
  • TAMAR GORDON (SECRETARY)
  • THERESE NELSON (TREASURER)

Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.

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

Overview

Mission

We are the practical application of identity transformationnot just theory, just not abstraction, but hands-on experience where young people discover capability in real time. When a young person says "i can't cook," they're not talking about skillsthey're talking about identity. That belief becomes a barrier to health, confidence, and possibility. We use food to help young people discover they're capable, worthy, and powerful during the years when identity is still forming. Because when someone shifts from "i can't" to "i am," everything changes.

What it reported doing in 2025

Hosted the organization's first summer camp, serving over 150 students across eight weeks of 100% free and accessible five-day sessions. Provided summer stipends to durham public school teachers who served as program staff throughout the eight-week camp. Supported four to five youth weekly with paid summer stipends and youth development training through the kitchen assistants in training (kait) program. Launched the inaugural beyond summer youth summit (u summit) to bridge summer programming into the 2025-2026 academic school year. Academic year programming (2024-2025 into 2025-2026) expanded the young cooks society to serve 1,501 projected participants across 264 students and 88 sessions during the 2024-2025 academic year, generating 2,288 actual youth engagement touches. Operated programming across multiple tiers: level 1 and level 2 cohorts at rogers herr middle school (quarterly and monthly sessions), jr. Cooks through communities in schools of wake county, and monthly sessions at hillside high school.o reinforced stem and literacy integration across all public school partnerships, embedding science, math, and reading skills into hands-on culinary curriculum. Culinary education and certification twenty students earned their food handler's license through the kait program with a 100% pass rate - a first for the organization and a key workforce development milestone. Grew the kitchen assistants in training (kait) pipeline, creating a pathway for middle school alumni to transition into leadership and paid roles supporting younger students at summer

Operating model

Revenue model
Grant-funded. 64% 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.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - 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: 89
  • Transparency & Controls: 90
  • Accountability: 64
  • Sustainability: 31
  • Growth: NotEnoughData

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 98.6%; rating input score 99
  • 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: 1 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 14
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -41.4%; rating input score 27; 27th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.15; rating input score 12; 12th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 66; 66th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 58; 58th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: Limited
  • Revenue growth: Limited
  • Asset growth: Limited

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 98.6% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 4 of 4 board members independent · 1 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $119K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 4 people listed
  • Consistency: 19 of 19 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: Resolved incoming and outgoing counterparties from filed money flows.
  • 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 6 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 27/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 12/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 58/100.