Orca at Columbia PTA

What it reported doing in 2024

The Orca K-8 PTSA funds the Orca K-8 Garden Program, a fully integrated sustainability, environmental science, and organic gardening curriculum delivered weekly to all K-5 students along with special project opportunities for middle school students (i.e., grades 6 through 8). The goals of the program are to provide students learning opportunities and exposure to concepts that other traditional school subjects may not provide, and in an outdoor setting when possible. These include environmental science, food justice, organic gardening, PNW Indigenous Cultures, food/human relationships, healthy and nutritional recipes, sustainability, PNW native plants, and food cultivation, harvesting, and foraging. The program resonates with our mantra In this Garden, We All Belong to support the inclusive beliefs of our schools community.Many of these goals are achieved by engaging students with hands-on activities and discussion focusing on all aspects of the Living Classroom lifecycle including soil preparation, planting, water, weeding, general care, harvest, and seed collection. Through special events such the Salmon Release which is supported by Salmon in the Schools, K-5 students raise salmon from eggs and study the salmon life cycle before releasing young salmon after a walk down to Lake Washington. Other actives that students engage in are learning about the medicinal properties of plants, such as calendula when made into a lip balm, associating the importance of native plants to the PNW indigenous cultures, understanding the nutritional and chemical differences between a fast food french fry and the infamous Orca Fries which are prepared from potatoes grown by students in the Living Classroom. Plant starts grown by the students each spring are the basis of the Orca Garden Sale, an annual plant sale and PTSA fundraiser that directly connects the Orca garden with gardens and families across our community. The Garden Program and Living Classroom are available to over 350+ Orca K-8 students and teachers in addition to community members who wish to tour, visit, and/or harvest from the Garden. The 2023-2024 Orca K-8 student community with access to the Garden comprised 339 students representing a breadth of ethnicity and race, and special or unique learning needs.

Financial Efficiency

• Mission deployment rate: 78.3%; rating input score 78
• Program expense ratio: 78.9%; rating input score 79

Transparency & Controls

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

Sustainability

• Operating margin: 0.7%; rating input score 47; 47th percentile among comparable filings
• Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.93; rating input score 44; 44th percentile among comparable filings
• Liabilities to assets ratio: Limited
• Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 56; 56th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

• Program expense growth: -7.6% per year; rating input score 0; 31st percentile among comparable filings
• Revenue growth: -10% per year; rating input score 0; 24th percentile among comparable filings
• Asset growth: -11.6% per year; rating input score 0; 15th percentile among comparable filings