New Mexico Appleseed
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 204985257
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2011–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Albuquerque, NM, USA
- Phone
- 5058141200
- Rating
- 75
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Community, Neighborhood Development
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $565,892
- Expenses
- $565,586
- Assets
- $1,503,667
- Liabilities
- $57,476
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
8 people listed
Highest reported compensation
- JENNIFER A RAMO (EXECUTIVE DI): $151,294 total reported compensation
- DANIEL VALVERDE (DEPUTY DIREC): $115,634 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
New Mexico appleseed is a nonpartisan, non-profit organization focused on improving the lives of the poor and underserved through systemic change. New Mexico appleseed works on the systemic level to design, test, and implement practical solutions to difficult issues.
What it reported doing in 2024
Homelessness for more than 12 years, New Mexico appleseed has focused on the educational needs of students experiencing homelessness, couch surf, live in motels. Or somehow cram themselves into an overcrowded home with other family. This commitment is rooted in the belief that every child, regardless of housing status, deserves equal access to education. Through targeted policies and innovative programs, New Mexico appleseed aims to address the specific challenges these students face, promoting both short-term stability and long-term success. Building on the pilot's success, New Mexico appleseed is proposing a statewide guaranteed payment for attendance (gpa) program to reach 1,500 mckinney-vento students. This initiative will offer monthly payments of 500, contingent on regular school attendance, to help students surmount the financial and social challenges they face. With an estimated 10 million annual budget, gpa aims to raise New Mexico's graduation rate for mckinney vento students, setting a precedent in supporting homeless youth and enhancing statewide graduation rates.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 94% 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
SUPPORTED - 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: 79
- Transparency & Controls: 66
- Accountability: 83
- Sustainability: 45
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 81.8%; rating input score 82
- Program expense ratio: 80.6%; rating input score 81
- Fundraising efficiency: $19.94 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 58; 58th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 93.3%; rating input score 93; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 1 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 17
- Compensation committee: Missing
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
- Written employment contract: Missing
- Compensation survey or study: Missing
- Board or committee approval: Pass
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: Limited
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 85.7%; rating input score 86; 20th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 7 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 78
- 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: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 0.1%; rating input score 36; 36th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.66; rating input score 72; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.04; rating input score 55; 55th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 47.2%; rating input score 2; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 7.5% per year; rating input score 100; 54th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 6% per year; rating input score 100; 49th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 14.7% per year; rating input score 100; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 81.8% of revenue deployed · 80.6% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 6 of 7 board members independent · 7 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $456K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $151K · 8 people listed · 1 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Consistency: 27 of 27 current checks pass
- Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
- Filing history: 13 filing years from 2011 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 2 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: Fundraising efficiency scored 58/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 9 not reported.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 36/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 2/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 55/100.