Oakland- East Bay Garden Center Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 946102783
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2017–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2014, Form 990-T 2020, Form 990-N 2012
- Location
- Oakland, CA, USA
- Phone
- 5106352943
- Rating
- 48
- Verdict
- MIXED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $475,507
- Expenses
- $334,611
- Assets
- $892,498
- Liabilities
- $11,149
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
10 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Carole Levenson (Co-President)
- Victoria Rocha (Co-President/ALF Director)
- John Kirkmire (Vice President)
Highest reported compensation
- Victoria Rocha (Co-President/ALF Director): $15,000 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
OEBGCI is staffed by all volunteers & works principally to help maintain The Gardens at Lake Merritt, the garden center, & ongoing improvements throughout the East Bay of San Francisco Area
What it reported doing in 2024
Autumn Lights Festival- raise money for garden pavers, new sprinkler systems, updated pollinator garden & updated AirBeeand Bee habitat Pollinator Posse- raise money to enhance and expand the monarch butterfly population in the gardens plus encourage protection of pollinator habitat
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 73% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The filing allocates 89% 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
MIXED - The filed numbers largely add up and program spending has grown recently. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and a relatively small share of total spending goes to programs.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 13
- Transparency & Controls: 86
- Accountability: 43
- Sustainability: 67
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 12.8%; rating input score 13
- Program expense ratio: 14.9%; rating input score 15
- Fundraising efficiency: $1.34 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 7; 7th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 92.9%; rating input score 93; 25th 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: 20%; rating input score 20; 15th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 6 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 75
- 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: Missing
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 29.6%; rating input score 82; 82nd percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.67; rating input score 66; 66th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.01; rating input score 44; 44th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 4.5%; rating input score 33; 33rd percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 3.7% per year; rating input score 100; 48th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 9.8% per year; rating input score 100; 71st percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 11.6% per year; rating input score 100; 70th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 12.8% of revenue deployed · 14.9% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 3 of 15 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $50K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $15K · 10 people listed
- Consistency: 28 of 29 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 8 filing years from 2017 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 3 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.
- High — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 13/100.
- High — Financial Efficiency: Program expense ratio scored 15/100.
- High — Accountability: Independent voting board scored 20/100.
- High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 7/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 33/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 44/100.