The Garden Project of Southwest Colorado

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
201682026
IRS 990-EZ coverage
2010–2019
Forms available
Form 990-EZ 2019, Form 990-N 2013
Location
Durango, CO, USA
Phone
9702593123
Rating
77
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Environmental Education and Outdoor Survival Programs

Reported finances

Revenue
$166,753
Expenses
$183,763
Assets
$38,663
Liabilities
$116

Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2019. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

15 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • NORA STAFFORD (President)
  • ALYSSA MURRAY (2019 President)
  • BRITTANY CUPP (Vice President)

People named in this filing

  • NORA STAFFORD (President)
  • LAUREN SAVAGE (Treasurer)
  • DAVE HARRIS (2019 Secretary)

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 2019. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

The mission of the garden project of southwest Colorado is to grow a healthier community through garden programs, education, and access to local produce.

What it reported doing in 2019

In 2019 the garden project of southwest Colorado celebrated the 21st year of operation. The work of the organization continued the mission of creating healthy community through garden programs, education, and access to local produce. In 2019, the garden progect benefitted from the help of 2,782 volunteer hours from 783 volunteers on a variety of occasions. Volunteers continue to make the garden project thrive as the organization does not have a full time staff and are a small grassroots organization linking community members to their neighbors in outdoor greenspace. The organization was able to provide eight schools with educational gardening lessons and help support six other local garden projects. Through the education programs, the garden project served 3,942 youth and adults. Educators provided instruction through the in-school, after-school and summer camp programs for youth. These programs continue to teach important agrigulatural and science components including health and nutrition, growth and production of produce in a garden, farm to cafeteria initiatives and horticultural therapy. The garden project's food security wing was able to harvest and distribute 1,187 pounds of produce to those in need and provide continued support and partnership with the manna soup kitchen.

Operating model

Revenue model
Cannot be determined from the filing. The filing does not provide enough consistent revenue detail to tell how this nonprofit funds its work.
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 the filed numbers largely add up. Expenses are high relative to revenue and total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 75
  • Transparency & Controls: 82
  • Sustainability: 27
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 77.7%; rating input score 78
  • Program expense ratio: 70.5%; rating input score 70

Transparency & Controls

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

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -10.2%; rating input score 14; 14th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.21; rating input score 19; 19th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 61; 61st percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 65; 65th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 12.9% per year; rating input score 100; 71st percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 11.8% per year; rating input score 100; 75th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 6.1% per year; rating input score 100; 48th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 77.7% of revenue deployed · 70.5% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: Filed governance answers
  • Accomplishments: 1 filed program accomplishment · $129K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 15 people listed
  • Consistency: 7 of 7 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 6 filing years from 2010 to 2019
  • 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.

  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 14/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 19/100.