Rockside Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
454613625
IRS 990 coverage
2017–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2016, Form 990-N 2014
Location
Etna, CA, USA
Phone
5305982240
Rating
84
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Agricultural Programs
Affiliation
Christianity

Reported finances

Revenue
$2,152,206
Expenses
$1,978,326
Assets
$1,345,765
Liabilities
$193,812

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

10 people listed

Highest reported compensation

  • CRAIG THOMPSON (Executive Dir.): $68,069 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

To provide education, mentoring, and ministry to transitional young men to enable them to live healthy, productive, and holistic lives and to become change agents in their homes and communities.

What it reported doing in 2024

Rockside Ranch offers life restoration programs for young men overcoming crisis through a ministry focused, organic ranching experience which includes raising organic meat and eggs. Through our 8 month residential program we offer our students over 500 hours of life skill training and over 1000 hours of job skill training gaining work experience in over a dozen trades. Students receive weekly mentoring and over 85% of graduates are employed or in school full time. Our program operates on working ranches in Northern California, Allegan, Michigan, and New Underwood, South Dakota. Our full-time staff run the ranch and program with the goal of helping students learn the skills they need to restore their lives. We partner with regional health and human services, local churches, and community colleges to maximize opportunities for our students. We also operate a workforce program for our graduates where they can apply to live in community housing owned by the organization and work in a bakery, butchery, or custom apparel shop owned and operated by the organization. These programs and businesses have all been developed and expanded within the last three years. In 2024 Rockside had 48 students actively enrolled in its programs for 6,447 Student Days (1 student enrolled for 1 day = 1 Student Day). This equates to over 90,000 hours of valuable life and job skill training

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 82% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 99% 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

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 89
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 68
  • Sustainability: 48
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 98.8%; rating input score 99
  • 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: 93.6%; rating input score 94; 28th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 80%; rating input score 80; 14th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 4 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 8.1%; rating input score 58; 58th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.68; rating input score 25; 25th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.14; rating input score 51; 51st percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 3.4%; rating input score 66; 66th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 32.5% per year; rating input score 100; 93rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 30.2% per year; rating input score 100; 94th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 26% per year; rating input score 100; 90th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 98.8% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 8 of 10 board members independent · 4 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $2M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $68K · 10 people listed
  • Consistency: 28 of 28 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
  • Filing history: 7 filing years from 2017 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 1 filed related-organization link
  • 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 — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 25/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 58/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 51/100.