Ma'alot Farms
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 872180602
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2022–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Jun 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Los Gatos, CA, United States
- Phone
- (408) 785-0516
- Rating
- 66
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Food Programs
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $853,735
- Expenses
- $412,812
- Assets
- $590,679
- Liabilities
- $65,229
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
5 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- SHOSHANA OHRINER (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR/SECRETARY)
- PHILIP OHRINER (PRESIDENT)
Highest reported compensation
- SHOSHANA OHRINER (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR/SECRETARY): $42,762 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Ma'alot Farms is cultivating a healthier world through sustainable farming, regenerative practices, and community-centered food systems. Ma’alot Farms achieves its mission through direct food donation to community partners and hands-on workshops focusing on sustainable living, resilient food production, self-sufficiency skills, and earth-based education. Our Donation Partners While we have given our produce to a number of incredible organizations, currently our main community partner is Loaves and Fishes. They are working to remove the barriers to hunger relief in the Bay Area. We are proud to support their food pantry.
What it reported doing in 2024
Direct food donation in partnership with community organizations, as well as through hands-on exploration workshops in sustainable living, resilient food production, self-sufficiency skills, and earth-based judaism.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 99% 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 program spending has grown recently. 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: 54
- Transparency & Controls: 85
- Accountability: 51
- Sustainability: 69
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 37.8%; rating input score 38
- Program expense ratio: 76.9%; rating input score 77
- Fundraising efficiency: $25.94 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 65; 65th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 90.9%; rating input score 91; 8th 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: 60%; rating input score 60; 12th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 3 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 38
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- 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: 51.6%; rating input score 93; 93rd percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.43; rating input score 54; 54th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.11; rating input score 41; 41st percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 10.4%; rating input score 36; 36th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 30.2% per year; rating input score 100; 90th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 73.6% per year; rating input score 100; 98th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 109.5% per year; rating input score 100; 99th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 1 operating location identified
- Where the money goes: 37.8% of revenue deployed · 76.9% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 3 of 5 board members independent · 3 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $318K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $43K · 5 people listed
- Consistency: 21 of 22 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 3 filing years from 2022 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.
- 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.
- Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 38/100.
- Moderate — Accountability: Governance controls: 4 of 7 not reported.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
- Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 54/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 36/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 41/100.