Taproot Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
260773013
IRS 990 coverage
2013–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2012
Location
Iowa City, IA, USA
Phone
3193250695
Rating
64
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Youth Development Programs

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$272,820
Expenses
$305,698
Assets
$102,878
Liabilities
$36,983

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

Leadership & pay

4 people listed

Highest reported compensation

  • ELESA WEDEMEYER (DIRECTOR): $75,000 total reported compensation
  • ZAC WEDEMEYER (DIRECTOR): $75,000 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 create a vibrant community of families and individuals by offering a wide variety of sustainably and environmental educational experiences.

What it reported doing in 2024

Taproot served nearly 700 children ages 3 to 18 with programming that includes: -a daily after-school program that takes children on nature and play-based field trips -a once-weekly morning nature program called "sprouts," for young children, ages 3-5 -day-long camps on days when the Iowa city schools are closed for conferences or teacher work days -a 9-day taproot leadership camp for teenagers, camping in several different places in the Iowa city area -three different age groups of summer nature day camp, offered each week of the summer -a year-long program for 8-12th graders that met twice monthly for volunteer efforts and fun activities, and went on overnight campouts throughout the year. Taproot also made financial donations to other related nonprofits, as well as in-kind donations to local school fundraisers in the form of programming and gift certificates for silent auctions.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 100% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
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 - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and program spending has grown recently. The filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad and the filing does not identify recipients for some grant dollars.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 85
  • Transparency & Controls: 50
  • Accountability: 45
  • Sustainability: 17
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 94.6%; rating input score 95
  • Program expense ratio: 96.4%; rating input score 96
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Scored; rating input score 0
  • Grant itemization coverage: 0%; rating input score 0; 19th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 66.7%; rating input score 67; 18th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 1 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 14
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: Limited
    • Other executive compensation review process: Limited
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -12.1%; rating input score 20; 20th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.34; rating input score 18; 18th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.36; rating input score 14; 14th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 49.1%; rating input score 4; 4th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 1.8% per year; rating input score 100; 38th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 3.2% per year; rating input score 100; 42nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 4.9% per year; rating input score 100; 47th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 94.6% of revenue deployed · 96.4% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 2 of 3 board members independent · 1 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $295K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $75K · 4 people listed
  • Consistency: 27 of 27 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes foreign activity
  • Filing history: 12 filing years from 2013 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 3 filed money-flow records
  • 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.

  • High — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight scored 0/100.
  • High — Transparency & Controls: Grant itemization coverage scored 0/100.
  • High — Accountability: Governance controls: 5 of 6 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 20/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 18/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 4/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 14/100.