Sierra Roots

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
454897093
IRS 990-EZ coverage
2022–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2021, Form 990-EZ 2025, Form 990-N 2015
Location
Grass Valley, CA, USA
Phone
5307513263
Rating
63
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Human Service Organizations

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$95,606
Expenses
$84,558
Assets
$147,887
Liabilities
$6,833

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

Leadership & pay

5 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Susan Rice (Board Chair and Executive Director)

People named in this filing

  • Susan Rice (Board Chair and Executive Director)
  • Dianne Weichel (Treasurer, Secretary and Director)
  • Nick Wilczek (Board member)

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

Sierra Roots is committed to collaborating with chronically homeless individuals to help them make progress in their health, self reliance and action plans to obtain secure and safe homes. We employ a relationship-based approach that identifies individual needs and preserves the dignity of each person.

What it reported doing in 2025

Provide food, clothing and supplies to the homeless of Western Nevada County: We provided weekly hot meals for homeless participants, using volunteers, totaling 835 meals in 2025. The meals also provided a place to give away clothes, shoes, sleeping bags, and other essential items to participants. This program allows us to cultivate relationships with homeless participants in order to engage them in our advocacy programs and connect them to needed public services. Most participants in this program are chronically homeless, often living in tents in the woods and in other secluded areas.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 96% 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. 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: 55
  • Transparency & Controls: 82
  • Sustainability: 56
  • Growth: 0

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 52.3%; rating input score 52
  • Program expense ratio: 59.3%; rating input score 59

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 51st percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Limited

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 11.6%; rating input score 62; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.75; rating input score 62; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.05; rating input score 18; 18th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 56; 56th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -18.9% per year; rating input score 0; 20th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -22.6% per year; rating input score 0; 14th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -2.6% per year; rating input score 0; 30th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 52.3% of revenue deployed · 59.3% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: Filed governance answers
  • Accomplishments: 5 filed program accomplishments · $50K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 5 people listed
  • Consistency: 9 of 9 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 2 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 4 filing years from 2022 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.

  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 52/100.
  • 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.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 18/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 56/100.