Kitchen Garden Project Inc Garden-raised Bounty

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
911594312
IRS 990 coverage
2011–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Olympia, WA, USA
Phone
3607535522
Rating
79
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Botanical, Horticultural, and Landscape Services

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$1,336,964
Expenses
$1,357,421
Assets
$1,273,947
Liabilities
$50,738

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

Leadership & pay

18 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • JUDY WITT (PRESIDENT)
  • BERTIFFINY SUMBRY (VICE PRESIDENT)
  • DEBRA CROCKETT (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)

Highest reported compensation

  • DEBRA CROCKETT (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $90,628 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Garden-raised bounty (grub) is a nonprofit organization with a mission to grow healthy food, people, and community. With roots in the land, we create opportunities for people to lead, learn, and thrive. We envision an equitable world where we are all nourished by healthy relationships, resilient community, and good food. Grub provides direct services to and for the residents of thurston county and provides consultative, collaborative services to other organizations and institutions in communities throughout Washington state, and on occasion, nationally, as well as to tribal nations located in the pacific northwest region. Grub maintains various programs including youth programs, a farm, community food solutions, pollination (also known as program replication), and tend, gather & grow (a program focuses on wild foods and medicine).

What it reported doing in 2024

Community food solutions programsour community food solutions program is composed of two main projects: our grub garden project and our veteran programming.the grub garden project increases food security and community connection through building free backyard gardens for and with families with low incomes and providing gardeners with ongoing support and resources needed to be successful. In 2024-2025, we built 37 new home gardens, 3 community gardens, and supported 121 people through 8 community workshops and events. 100% of the grub gardeners who responded to post-season surveys reported they partially or fully met gardening goals! From the voice of a grub garden recipient - "i was so grateful that grub built me a garden bed this year! The team that came out to build the bed were so friendly and hard-working. It was fun and made me feel confident to help them with the build. I got several starts and seeds from grub too. My garden is really thriving. This is the biggest and most ambitious garden that i've attempted and with the help and resources from grub, it's doing great! So far, i've made pesto and lots of salads. I'm looking forward to borscht and doing some fermenting and canning soon."2024 grub garden recipient.grub's veteran programming offers hands-on opportunities for veterans to serve the community and develop skills in sustainable small-scale urban agriculture, beekeeping certifications, and food production. In 2024-2025, we supported 54 veterans in their beekeeping endeavors in our healing through hives project, and 15 veteran farmers and entrepreneurs in our shepherds project. We also provided support, education, and community connection through work teaching workshops on base, providing peer-support training, and hosting networking and community events. With help, we also designed and built garden beds and apiaries at the governor's mansion."i attended a grub beekeeping learning circle earlier this year with no expectations of what i would experience. I met so many lovely ladies who understood the value of nature and giving back to it. Grub is a beautiful place with such a peaceful ambiance and garden. I credit this experience with finally having the courage to crack my own hive open and dive in! The excitement for beekeeping from the ladies of grub was infectious! I got a chance to connect with other women interested in agriculture but i also shared a common background with them due to our military service. Being a female veteran can be isolating and this opportunity helped to ignite my passion for agriculture all over again. I definitely recommend this to any female veterans with an interest in gardening, beekeeping, or just connecting with the peace of grub and other veterans."apprentice beekeeper.

Operating model

Revenue model
Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
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. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 65
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 90
  • Sustainability: 39
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 70.4%; rating input score 70
  • Program expense ratio: 68.5%; rating input score 69
  • Fundraising efficiency: $6.5 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 24; 24th 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: 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: 6 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 75
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Fail
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -1.5%; rating input score 31; 31st percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.94; rating input score 41; 41st percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.04; rating input score 55; 55th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 6.7%; rating input score 48; 48th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 6.1% per year; rating input score 100; 48th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 7.7% per year; rating input score 100; 58th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 6.1% per year; rating input score 100; 44th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 70.4% of revenue deployed · 68.5% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 14 of 14 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $930K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $91K · 18 people listed
  • Consistency: 32 of 32 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 13 filing years from 2011 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • 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: Fundraising efficiency scored 24/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 8 not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 31/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 41/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 48/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 55/100.