The Garrison Institute

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
010597067
IRS 990 coverage
2018–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Garrison, NY, USA
Phone
8454244800
Rating
75
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Education N.E.C.

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$4,070,948
Expenses
$4,168,096
Assets
$1,124,006
Liabilities
$588,886

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

Leadership & pay

10 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • KAREN RENNIE GROSSMAN (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR TO 6/2024)

Highest reported compensation

  • KAREN RENNIE GROSSMAN (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR TO 6/2024): $262,625 total reported compensation
  • STEVE VARLEY (MANAGING DIRECTOR FROM 7/2024): $173,376 total reported compensation
  • JEANNE ENGLERT (CHIEF OPERATIONS OFFICER): $169,837 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

The garrison institute's mission is to apply the skills and wisdom cultivated through contemplative practice, together with the insights emerging from science, to today's urgent social and environmental challenges, leveraging transformational change and helping build a more compassionate, resilient future. We envision a future in which contemplation is widely recognized and practiced as a pathway to social and environmental transformation. Contemplation infuses our actions with the awareness that we live in a relational world, where everyone and everything is connected and interdependent. Together with insights from science and ethics, this awareness will increasingly be cultivated and applied to changing behaviors and mindsets, shifting the current paradigm towards a holistic, interconnected one.

What it reported doing in 2024

The contemplative based resilience program (cbr) offers resilence training in mind-body contemplative practices to support the well-being of helping professionals and changemakers such as health care workers, social workers, humanitarian staff, and others. One of the first programs of its kind, cbr offers evidence-based tools to deepen self-awareness and self-care, so attendees can "be well to serve well." in view of the vast need and demand, the cbr project now offers leadership courses for nonprofit leaders who can help their organizations adopt cbr tools. As cbr embarks on its third decade, the program continues its dedication to those people and organizations who dedicate themselves to serving others.

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

SUPPORTED - 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 program spending has declined or grown slowly.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 72
  • Transparency & Controls: 79
  • Accountability: 95
  • Sustainability: 18
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 79.2%; rating input score 79
  • Program expense ratio: 77.3%; rating input score 77
  • Fundraising efficiency: $5.63 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 20; 20th 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: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Pass
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Missing
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
  • 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: 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: -2.4%; rating input score 26; 26th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.27; rating input score 8; 8th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.52; rating input score 20; 20th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 21.4%; rating input score 11; 11th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -3.7% per year; rating input score 0; 6th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 0.3% per year; rating input score 100; 12th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 3.8% per year; rating input score 100; 28th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 79.2% of revenue deployed · 77.3% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 5 of 5 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $3.2M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $263K · 10 people listed · 2 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 1 contractor listed · $463K reported
  • Consistency: 30 of 30 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 6 filing years from 2018 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 5 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.
  • 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.

  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 20/100.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 26/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 8/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Other executive compensation review process not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 11/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 20/100.