Sunflower Bakery Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN: 262797556
IRS 990 coverage: 2011–2024
Forms available: Form 990 2024, Form 990-N 2008
Location: Rockville, MD, USA
Phone: 2403613698
Rating: 82
Verdict: STRONG
Rating confidence: Moderate
Sector: Job Training

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue: $2,270,858
Expenses: $2,577,744
Assets: $2,737,636
Liabilities: $817,979

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

Leadership & pay

20 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

JODY TICK (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)

Highest reported compensation

JODY TICK (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $154,500 total reported compensation
SARA PORTMAN MILNER (CO-FOUNDER): $42,987 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Sunflower bakery enables pathways to employment for young adults and teens with learning differences through pre-employment exposure and workforce development training in pastry arts, culinary arts, hospitality and related industries.

What it reported doing in 2024

The hospitality training has two phases taught by instructors with hospitality experience. Phase one consists of 13 weeks and is classroom based focusing on both hard and soft skills of customer service, front of house operations, safe food handling, and employment readiness. Phase two is 13 weeks and students shift from classroom to sunflower's retail outlets and support daily operations stocking inventory, engaging with customers, and running point of sale. Students also receive extensive employee readiness preparation including interpersonal communication, self-advocacy, problem solving techniques, and time-management.

Operating model

Revenue model: Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
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

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

Financial Efficiency: 88
Transparency & Controls: 74
Accountability: 92
Sustainability: 25
Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
Program expense ratio: 86.9%; rating input score 87
Fundraising efficiency: $8.46 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 32; 32nd percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
Pay-setting controls: 2 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 33
- Compensation committee: Pass
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
- Written employment contract: Missing
- Compensation survey or study: Missing
- Board or committee approval: Pass
Foreign activity oversight: Limited
Grant itemization coverage: Limited
Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

Independent voting board: 94.4%; rating input score 94; 25th percentile among comparable filings
Governance controls: 8 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 89
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: Pass
- Other executive compensation review process: Fail
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

Operating margin: -13.5%; rating input score 10; 10th percentile among comparable filings
Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.06; rating input score 39; 39th percentile among comparable filings
Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.3; rating input score 34; 34th percentile among comparable filings
Officer compensation ratio: 7.7%; rating input score 38; 38th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

Program expense growth: 16.7% per year; rating input score 100; 81st percentile among comparable filings
Revenue growth: 13.3% per year; rating input score 100; 78th percentile among comparable filings
Asset growth: 17.4% per year; rating input score 100; 79th percentile among comparable filings

Details

Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 86.9% of spending went to programs
Governance: 17 of 18 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $2.2M in reported program spending
Leadership: top reported pay $154K · 20 people listed · 2 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
Consistency: 34 of 34 current checks pass
Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
Filing history: 13 filing years from 2011 to 2024
Contacts: How to reach this organization
Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
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.
Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 32/100.
High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 10/100.
Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Other executive compensation review process not reported.
Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 39/100.
Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 34/100.
Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 38/100.