Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 016048322
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2014–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024
- Location
- Unity, ME, USA
- Phone
- 2075684142
- Rating
- 82
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Professional Societies & Associations
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $6,161,721
- Expenses
- $5,847,447
- Assets
- $13,680,173
- Liabilities
- $723,307
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
16 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- ELLEN SABINA (PRESIDENT)
Highest reported compensation
- SARAH ALEXANDER (EXECUTIVE DI): $134,348 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
The Maine organic farmers and gardeners association is transforming our food system by supporting farmers, empowering people to feed their communities and advocating for an organic future.
What it reported doing in 2024
Community education - to educate the general public on organic farming, gardening and orcharding methods, as well as low impact forestry. Communications & outreach - periodicals & publications are produced for members & the general public to address the environmental, nutritional, and rural values; approximately 6,300 members served with publication by mofga. Maine heritage orchard - the Maine heritage orchard is a ten-acre preservation orchard on the mofga grounds in unity. It is currently home to more than 400 apple and pear varieties traditionally grown in Maine. More are being planted each year. Many of these varieties are now on the verge of extinction. The orchard is planted on a terraced, reclaimed gravel pit and is managed using innovative, organic orchard practices. Public policy - reviews existing and proposed legislation and regulations that are relevant to the purpose of mofga. It may propose and support legislative and regulatory proposals as approved by the board of directors. El salvador sistering - promotes solidarity among small farmers and community organizations in Maine and el salvador, focusing on economic and social justice and environmental protection through sustainable, organic agriculture and sustainable communities.
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 95% 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
STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 75
- Transparency & Controls: 86
- Accountability: 90
- Sustainability: 61
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 80%; rating input score 80
- Program expense ratio: 78%; rating input score 78
- Fundraising efficiency: $10.61 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 39; 39th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 93.8%; rating input score 94; 20th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: Limited
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: 80.6%; rating input score 81; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
- 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: Fail
- Document-retention policy: Fail
- CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Other executive compensation review process: Pass
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 5.1%; rating input score 51; 51st percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.34; rating input score 67; 67th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.05; rating input score 69; 69th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 2.3%; rating input score 74; 74th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 9.7% per year; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 6.2% per year; rating input score 100; 49th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 8.8% per year; rating input score 100; 54th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 80% of revenue deployed · 78% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 15 of 15 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $4.6M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $134K · 16 people listed
- Consistency: 34 of 35 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
- Filing history: 10 filing years from 2014 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 11 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 10 filed related-organization links
- 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.
Grant-readiness screening is separate from the live rating, not a measure of program quality. Review the source records before making a grant decision.
- Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 39/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 8 not reported.
- Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 51/100.
- Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
- High — Grant Readiness: Federal audit findings: this organization reported findings in its latest federal Single Audit.