Learning Gardens Laboratory
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 931804250
- IRS 990-EZ coverage
- 2023–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990-EZ 2025, Form 990-N 2024
- Location
- Aurora, OR, USA
- Rating
- 89
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Environmental Education and Outdoor Survival Programs
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $102,992
- Expenses
- $73,177
- Assets
- $40,947
Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
3 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Sybil Kelley (President)
People named in this filing
- Sybil Kelley (President)
- Jackie Boliba (Secretary)
- Kristopher Jensen (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-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Learning Gardens Laboratory is an ecologically-informed urban agriculture and community education site. Learning Gardens Laboratorys mission and purpose is to foster leadership for learners of all ages through experimental garden-based education deep reciprocity with the land and engagement in local sustainable food systems.
What it reported doing in 2025
Garden Education: Learning Gardens Laboratory educates learners of all ages about growing food while improving local ecosystem health. In 2025 we served over 850 students across K-12 and university levels and over 300 community members engaged in hands-on gardening and sustainable living skills development through weekly volunteer hours and monthly work parties.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 95% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- 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. Total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 82
- Transparency & Controls: 100
- Sustainability: 58
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 71.1%; rating input score 71
- Program expense ratio: 100%; rating input score 100
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 28.9%; rating input score 81; 81st percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.56; rating input score 41; 41st percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: Limited
- Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 63; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 100% per year; rating input score 100; 97th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 97.5% per year; rating input score 100; 99th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 93.8% per year; rating input score 100; 97th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 71.1% of revenue deployed · 100% of spending went to programs
- Governance: Filed governance answers
- Accomplishments: 2 filed program accomplishments · $73K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 3 people listed
- Consistency: 6 of 6 current checks pass
- Schedules: 3 filed schedules
- Filing history: 2 filing years from 2023 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- 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.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 41/100.