On The Ground

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
061794589
IRS 990-EZ coverage
2010–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2015, Form 990-EZ 2025, Form 990-N 2009
Location
Traverse City, MI, USA
Phone
2313133866
Rating
68
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Fund Raising and/or Fund Distribution

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$112,645
Expenses
$88,132
Assets
$48,523

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

Leadership & pay

10 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Claire Everhart (President)

People named in this filing

  • Chris Treter (Director)
  • Matthew Desmond (Treasurer)
  • Sean Burns (Secretary)

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

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

Overview

Mission

To support sustainable community development in farming regions across the world

What it reported doing in 2025

In 2025 in the South Kivu region of the Democratic Republic of Congo, the organization completed the UN-approved Gender Action Learning System program for approximately 250 women and their husbands including the first group of Pygmy women and husbands. The program teaches business and finance skills, including literacy and numeracy. It also includes access to credit and savings groups. We also supported the education of oprhaned children in the same region through payment of school fees and the purchase of their school uniforms, books, and materials. We also continued to support Lake Kivu region refugees who lost or were forced to flee their homes because of civil unrest and the military takeover by the M23 militia group.

Operating model

Revenue model
Cannot be determined from the filing. The filing does not provide enough consistent revenue detail to tell how this nonprofit funds its work.
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. 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: 51
  • Transparency & Controls: 100
  • Sustainability: 54
  • Growth: 0

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 46%; rating input score 46
  • Program expense ratio: 58.7%; rating input score 59

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 21.8%; rating input score 73; 73rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.55; rating input score 41; 41st percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: Limited
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 63; 63rd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -1.7% per year; rating input score 0; 25th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -3.1% per year; rating input score 0; 10th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -7.5% per year; rating input score 0; 13th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 46% of revenue deployed · 58.7% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: Filed governance answers
  • Accomplishments: 1 filed program accomplishment · $52K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 10 people listed
  • Consistency: 6 of 6 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 14 filing years from 2010 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • 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 46/100.
  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Program expense ratio scored 59/100.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 41/100.