North Coast Growers Association

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
770212408
IRS 990 coverage
2017–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2016
Location
Arcata, CA, USA
Phone
7074419999
Rating
87
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Agricultural Programs

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$2,180,742
Expenses
$1,999,480
Assets
$1,539,459
Liabilities
$931,178

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

Leadership & pay

8 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • MELANIE CUNNINGHAM (PRESIDENT)
  • CHRIS MOORE (VICE PRESIDENT)
  • PORTIA BRAMBLE (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)

Highest reported compensation

  • PORTIA BRAMBLE (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $101,673 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

The mission of ncga is to support humboldt county's farmers and artisanproducers in building a robust and resilient local food system.

What it reported doing in 2025

Agriculture producer support and operation of certified farmers' markets:9 farmers' markets were open in 2025: "old town farmers' market" eureka, ca; "henderson center farmers' market" eureka, ca; "fortuna farmers' market" fortuna, ca; "mckinleyville farmers' market" mckinleyville, ca; "arcata plaza farmers' market" located on the plaza in arcata, ca; "shelter cove farmers' market" shelter cove, ca; "miranda farmers' market" miranda, ca; and "garberville farmers' market", garberville, ca; "friday night market" eureka, ca . Over 150 local farmers participate in these markets, along with artisan craft and food producers. Over 4,500 customers attend weekly. Employees of ncga staff these farmers' markets. Nutrition education and food access programs are an integral part of farmers' market operations. Calfresh (snap) outreach efforts to promote calfresh and enroll individuals in the calfresh program (including advertising, outreach, educational activities such as field trips and market tours) as well as the processing of calfresh benefits through the ebt system (electronic benefits transfer- customers swipe their ebt cards through a point of sale device that debits the customer card and electronically deposits the daily total into ncga bank account). Ncga staff facilitates tokens (the calfresh benefits), which are issued to customers and then spent with the farmers; this is pass through income, and thereby categorized as a liability. A contract with the humboldt county department of health and human services supports the administrative costs for this program. The target population for this program is all low-income residents of humboldt county. We see an average of over 500 individual calfresh recipients participating in the program weekly, with over 15,000 unique individuals participating in 2025. Over 200 local family farms benefit from calfresh spending at ncga farmers markets. The market match nutrition incentive program provides a match to the calfresh spending, this match is known as "market match" in the state of ca. Customers spend the script with the farmers and the farmers redeem these with market staff. This program is funded in part with grants from the California department of food and agriculture through the California nutrition incentive program (cnip), the federal gus schumacher nutrition incentive program (gusnip formerly called fini).

Operating model

Revenue model
Grant-funded. 83% 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.
  • 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. Expenses are high relative to revenue and total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 80
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 40
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 87.6%; rating input score 88
  • Program expense ratio: 92%; rating input score 92
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd 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: 8 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 100
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 8.3%; rating input score 51; 51st percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.77; rating input score 26; 26th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.6; rating input score 12; 12th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 5.1%; rating input score 56; 56th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 20.2% per year; rating input score 100; 84th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 19% per year; rating input score 100; 86th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 25.2% per year; rating input score 100; 90th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 87.6% of revenue deployed · 92% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 7 of 7 board members independent · 8 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $1.8M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $102K · 8 people listed
  • Consistency: 31 of 31 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 8 filing years from 2017 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
  • 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 — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 51/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 26/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 12/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 56/100.