Miss Sims Garden Foundation

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
874088155
IRS 990 coverage
2024–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2023, Form 990-N 2024
Location
Birmingham, AL, USA
Rating
76
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Botanical Gardens, Arboreta and Botanical Organizations

Reported finances

Revenue
$111,119
Expenses
$54,875
Assets
$233,334
Liabilities
$0

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

Leadership & pay

7 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Brandy Johnson (Vice President of the Board)
  • Holly Kennedy (President of the Board of Directors)

People named in this filing

  • Lynn Luckianow (At-Large Board Director)
  • Amy Boyd (At-Large Board Director)
  • Harold Hudson (At-Large Board Director)

Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.

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

Overview

Mission

The purpose for which the Corporation is organized is exclusively for charitable educational religious or scientific purposes including for such purposes the making of distributions to organizations that qualify as exempt organizations under Section 501c3 of the Internal Revenue Code or the corresponding section to any future tax code. Accordingly the corporation shall transact any or all lawful business for which a non-profit corporation may be organized under the laws of the State of Alabama including but not limited to: a Protect in perpetuity the legacy wish of Catherine Anville Sims tocreate and maintain a botanical park at her home and garden estate; b Administer Miss Sims Garden as a botanical park for publicenjoyment and education; c Fundraise to support the operation of Miss Sims botanical park; and d To provide a tax-exempt vehicle for the receipt of gifts and grants to benefit the corporations programs and goals.

What it reported doing in 2024

Running a pumpkin & mum sale fundraiser and renting the garden space to the public for events such as birthday parties.

Operating model

Revenue model
Grant-funded. 80% of the money available for current operations came from government grants.
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 total spending goes to programs. 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: 67
  • Transparency & Controls: 93
  • Accountability: 70
  • Sustainability: 83
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 46.7%; rating input score 47
  • Program expense ratio: 94.6%; rating input score 95
  • Fundraising efficiency: $94 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 85; 85th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 91.7%; rating input score 92; 19th 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: 2 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 29
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 50.6%; rating input score 92; 92nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 4.25; rating input score 76; 76th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 80; 80th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 69; 69th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: Limited
  • Revenue growth: 68% per year; rating input score 100; 98th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 27.4% per year; rating input score 100; 90th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 46.7% of revenue deployed · 94.6% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 7 of 7 board members independent · 2 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 5 filed program accomplishments · $52K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 7 people listed
  • Consistency: 31 of 32 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: Resolved incoming and outgoing counterparties from filed money flows.
  • 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 — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 47/100.
  • High — Accountability: Governance controls: 4 of 6 not reported.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.