Open Agriculture Foundation
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 811516540
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2017–2019
- Forms available
- Form 990 2019, Form 990-EZ 2018
- Location
- Marblehead, MA, USA
- Phone
- 6173044112
- Rating
- 73
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Private Grantmaking Foundations
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $1,100,241
- Expenses
- $464,347
- Assets
- $648,950
- Liabilities
- $7,313
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2019. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
3 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- CALEB HARPER (PRESIDENT/TREASURER/SECRETARY)
People named in this filing
- CALEB HARPER (PRESIDENT/TREASURER/SECRETARY)
- JILL SHAH (DIRECTOR)
- HOWARD SHAPIRO (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 2019. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
To educate the public about a new agricultural technology developed at the Massachusetts institute for technology known as "open agriculture, and to advance certain charitable, educational, and scientific applications of the new method.
What it reported doing in 2019
Education & outreach: the foundation plans to educate the public about open agriculture-why it is important, what is already being done, what its future prospects are, and how to do it-through a combination of online educational materials, discussion groups, local open agriculture chapters, and in-school education programs.by sharing new developments in the field of open agriculture, encouraging individual open agriculturalists to include their data in its general repository, and making that data available to the public for further study and analysis, the foundation advances science and education.- website/forum/conferences: the foundation will host an educational website, which will make available general information about open agriculture, as well as a discussion forum where people can ask concrete questions and learn more. The foundation will also host periodic conferences or seminars online or in person to bring together those working in the field to learn about the opportunities, challenges, and developments in the field of open agriculture. Conferences and seminars will be open to anyone, perhaps subject to the payment of a reasonable registration fee.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 100% 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 - The filed numbers largely add up and most voting board members are independent. 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: 53
- Transparency & Controls: 92
- Accountability: 76
- Sustainability: 80
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 30.9%; rating input score 31
- Program expense ratio: 73.2%; rating input score 73
- Fundraising efficiency: $1,585.01 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 99; 99th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd 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: 3 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 43
- 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: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Missing
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 57.8%; rating input score 95; 95th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.4; rating input score 55; 55th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.01; rating input score 76; 76th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 83; 83rd percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 62.8% per year; rating input score 100; 98th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 103.8% per year; rating input score 100; 99th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 123.3% per year; rating input score 100; 99th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 30.9% of revenue deployed · 73.2% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 3 of 3 board members independent · 3 of 7 filing controls reported
- Programs: 6 filed program accomplishments · $340K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 3 people listed
- Consistency: 26 of 26 current checks pass
- Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 2 filing years from 2017 to 2019
- 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 31/100.
- Moderate — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 6 not reported.
- Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 55/100.