The Decency Foundation
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 834520566
- IRS 990-EZ coverage
- 2023–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990 2022, Form 990-EZ 2025
- Location
- Philadelphia, PA, USA
- Phone
- 9178816949
- Rating
- 79
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Economic Development
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $11,814
- Expenses
- $17,044
- Assets
- $4,913
- Liabilities
- $100,000
Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
8 people listed
People named in this filing
- JEFF GARSON (CO FOUNDER)
- JON MCCONAUGHY (CO FOUNDER)
- KIMBERLY FOLLET (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
With a focus on business, the decency foundation seeks to put decency's 7 values - respect, understanding, empathy, acceptance, appreciation, fairness and justice - into practice in all areas of living (see schedule o). Nu.ag, the foundation's primary focus, supports, incubates and empowers small individual farms, providing them with long term, below market loans to: increase their economic viability; produce more healthful food; be more decent in their treatment of workers, animals, and the environment; and more fully committed to their local communities. Integral to the foundation's work is nu, a metric it has developed to assess, and then to improve and expand, the ethical practices of the farms and other businesses with which it works. Through its nu.ag program, the fund and the foundation, seek to support food production that is socially responsible, structurally sound, and financially viable.
What it reported doing in 2025
Working meals is a very simple solution - support local restaurants by helping the restaurants provide meals to healthcare professionals and their furloughed workers during the pandemic.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 100% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- Distribution model
- Grant intermediary. The nonprofit sent 100% of its reported program spending out as grants.
The verdict
SUPPORTED - The filed numbers largely add up and a large share of available resources goes toward mission work. Expenses are high relative to revenue and program spending has declined or grown slowly.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 76
- Transparency & Controls: 100
- Sustainability: 20
- Growth: 0
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 86.3%; rating input score 86
- Program expense ratio: 59.8%; rating input score 60
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 51st percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -44.3%; rating input score 13; 13th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.29; rating input score 23; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 20.35; rating input score 1; 1st percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 56; 56th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: -73.8% per year; rating input score 0; 5th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: -44.1% per year; rating input score 0; 7th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: -48.3% per year; rating input score 0; 4th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 86.3% of revenue deployed · 59.8% of spending went to programs
- Governance: Filed governance answers
- Accomplishments: 1 filed program accomplishment · $10K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 8 people listed
- Consistency: 9 of 9 current checks pass
- Schedules: 4 filed schedules
- Filing history: 3 filing years from 2023 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 7 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.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 13/100.
- High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
- High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 23/100.
- High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 1/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 56/100.