Sweet Farm Foundation

What it reported doing in 2024

Sweet farm, established in 2016, initially began as a farm animal sanctuary. Almost immediately, it became clear that our food and climate systems are so deeply intertwined that their stories cannot be told individually. To drive transformative change, our co-founders realized it was essential to consider all aspects of our food system and its ties to energy, waste, and material systems. By 2017, sweet farm had expanded its initiatives to encompass regenerative agriculture and tech & innovation, driving impact from local to global scales. As the first climate sanctuary, our focus remains rooted in fostering climate-consciousness and amplifying impact through holistic, systems-based approaches.sweet farm has experienced the effects of climate change firsthand; evacuating our animals due to wildfires in 2020 and being forced to close our agriculture programs in 2021 due to California's drought. With no end to these climate disasters in sight, in 2021 we made the decision to relocate our farm, animals and programs to the more climate secure region of upstate New York. This move was costly for our organization, but our newly built 50-acre farm is providing a more sustainable home to allow us to grow the impact of our programs in the long term.our experience as climate refugees puts us in a unique position to connect our educational programs to the realities of climate change. We always take a pragmatic and positive approach in our educational programs, amplifying innovative solutions that can move the needle forward towards a more compassionate and sustainable world.central to our educational programs are the stories of our farm animal rescue animals also known as our animal ambassadors. As of 2025, sweet farm now cares for over 100 rescued farm animals on the farm. For the last two years we were focused on ensuring the long-term health and safety of farm animals from sanctuaries that were closing. In that time, we've brought in over 60 rescued farm animals, with 40 coming from sanctuaries that were closing or needing to downsize. Funding in the sanctuary space is in crisis, and we are trying to support as many animals as we can with a permanent home. The past two years we've also continued our work to minimize the local feral cat population through a well-managed tnr program and adoption of nearly 40 kittens. And we helped local wildlife rescuers in saving and rereleasing to the wild over 40 opossums.adding new rescues to our sweet farm family was done through careful integration. The care of our animals is our highest priority, which includes day-to-day care, medical care and enrichment activities to make sure our animals are happy and healthy. In 2025 we also had to contend with high costs for medical care for our animals. Many of our animal ambassador species are traditionally raised for food and not for long life, which leads to a high frequency of medical interventions as the animals age.in 2025, our in-person and virtual educational programs remained strong with well-attended events throughout the year. We developed a wide variety of educational workshops ranging from: a) tech and innovation trends in farming, b) mushroom cultivation and foraging, c) debunking plant-based myths to inspire people to shift to a more plant-based diet, d) backyard composting and windowsill herb planting, and e) kids programs focused on animals, plants, and the planet. We are particularly excited to be developing a 4-h curriculum for kids that will continue to grow with our 4-h group. As of 2025, we currently have over 60 children who have taken part in our program. We've worked closely with the local 4-h leadership to create a group that will focus on long-term care of farm animals and an understanding of climate and environmental issues.our technology and innovation program remains a cornerstone of how we scale our impact globally. Start-ups that are working in partnership with sweet farm have now collectively raised over $700m and are buildin

Financial Efficiency

• Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
• Program expense ratio: 82%; rating input score 82
• Fundraising efficiency: $1,463.74 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 98; 98th percentile among comparable filings

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: 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: 7 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 100
  • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
  • Whistleblower policy: Pass
  • Document-retention policy: Pass
  • 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: Pass
  • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

• Operating margin: -56.1%; rating input score 2; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
• Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.25; rating input score 12; 12th percentile among comparable filings
• Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.32; rating input score 23; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
• Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 81; 81st percentile among comparable filings

Growth

• Program expense growth: 19% per year; rating input score 100; 81st percentile among comparable filings
• Revenue growth: 4.2% per year; rating input score 100; 38th percentile among comparable filings
• Asset growth: 1.5% per year; rating input score 100; 23rd percentile among comparable filings