Loveland Youth Gardeners

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
841516672
IRS 990 coverage
2024–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2023
Location
Loveland, CO, USA
Phone
9703087581
Rating
69
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Youth Development - Agricultural

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$303,063
Expenses
$330,834
Assets
$172,475
Liabilities
$50,010

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

Leadership & pay

10 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Kelly Robenhagen (Executive Director)
  • Sheri McCaskill (Board President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Erica Wharton (Program Director): $81,699 total reported compensation
  • Kelly Robenhagen (Executive Director): $55,601 total reported compensation
  • Alessandra Fiorenza (Volunteer Manager): $44,118 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Using sustainable horticultural education and experience to empower local youth of different age ranges who are facing challenges.

What it reported doing in 2025

LEAD Program: vocational horticultural therapy for tens aged 13 - 18 who are facing various barriers to success in their lives through a supporting and nurturing environment as well as gardening curriculum that emphasizes sustainable horticulture practices to assist in developing job and life skills. 140 programs hours per student 20 teens served in LEAD.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 73% 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.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - The filed numbers largely add up and most voting board members are independent. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and a relatively small share of total spending goes to programs.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 53
  • Transparency & Controls: 86
  • Accountability: 82
  • Sustainability: 19
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 51.9%; rating input score 52
  • Program expense ratio: 46.8%; rating input score 47
  • Fundraising efficiency: $60.18 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 77; 77th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 92.3%; rating input score 92; 24th 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; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 5 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 56
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: Pass
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Fail
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -9.2%; rating input score 20; 20th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.52; rating input score 26; 26th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.29; rating input score 13; 13th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 54.8%; rating input score 3; 3rd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 30.8% per year; rating input score 100; 90th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 9.1% per year; rating input score 100; 66th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 14% per year; rating input score 100; 73rd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 51.9% of revenue deployed · 46.8% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 7 of 7 board members independent · 5 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $155K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $82K · 10 people listed
  • Consistency: 42 of 43 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 2 filing years from 2024 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 6 filed money-flow records
  • 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.

  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 52/100.
  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Program expense ratio scored 47/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 4 of 9 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 20/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 26/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 3/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 13/100.