The Seed Farm
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 274659716
- IRS 990-EZ coverage
- 2013–2018
- Forms available
- Form 990-EZ 2018, Form 990-N 2012
- Location
- Allentown, PA, USA
- Phone
- 6103365690
- Rating
- 59
- Verdict
- MIXED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Environmental Education and Outdoor Survival Programs
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $137,398
- Expenses
- $106,512
- Assets
- $49,906
- Liabilities
- $0
Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2018. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
7 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Brian Moyer (President)
- Lindsey Parks (Executive Director)
People named in this filing
- Brian Moyer (President)
- Louis Cinquino (Secretary)
- Diane Matthews-Gehringer (Director)
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 2018. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
The mission of The Seed Farm (TSF) is to cultivate the next generation of farmers. The purposes of TSF are to 1) provide land, training, infrastructure and other support for new farmers to start their own agricultural enterprises; 2) help mentor new and existing area farmers through a network of experienced Lehigh Valley farmers who have successfully adopted sustainable production and marketing systems; and 3) create a demonstration model of profitable and sustainable agricultural enterprises for new and existing farmers.
What it reported doing in 2018
Farm Business Incubator: The Seed Farm's farm business incubator provided new farmers with access to land, equipment, infrastructure, mentoring, market opportunities, and more, at reduced rates. During the 2018 growing season, three new farmers received access to these critical and often cost-prohibitive resources. This access allowed them to launch and grow their businesses, receiving intensive support during the risky and expensive first few years of farm ownership. While at The Seed Farm, new farmers receive ongoing instruction on environmentally sustainable growing practices, build credit and a customer base, and lay a solid foundation for their new farms. Incubator farmers must submit annual reports, sharing their income and expenses, challenges and successes from the past year, to The Seed Farm's program committee for review and feedback from experienced growers and educators. Three incubator farms operated on site in 2018, growing cut flowers and raising bees for honey, and selling throughout the greater Lehigh Valley.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 96% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- 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
MIXED - The filed numbers largely add up and revenue has grown recently. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and a relatively small share of total spending goes to programs.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 40
- Transparency & Controls: 82
- Sustainability: 59
- Growth: 60
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 36%; rating input score 36
- Program expense ratio: 46.4%; rating input score 46
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 51st percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Limited
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 22.5%; rating input score 81; 81st percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.47; rating input score 38; 38th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 83; 83rd percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 76.7%; rating input score 0; 0th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: -6.5% per year; rating input score 0; 17th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 10.9% per year; rating input score 100; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 1.3% per year; rating input score 100; 35th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 36% of revenue deployed · 46.4% of spending went to programs
- Governance: Filed governance answers
- Accomplishments: 3 filed program accomplishments · $49K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 7 people listed
- Consistency: 9 of 9 current checks pass
- Schedules: 2 filed schedules
- Filing history: 6 filing years from 2013 to 2018
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 2 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.
Grant-readiness screening is separate from the live rating, not a measure of program quality. Review the source records before making a grant decision.
- Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 36/100.
- Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Program expense ratio scored 46/100.
- High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 38/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 0/100.
- High — Grant Readiness: Automatic revocation: this organization had its federal tax-exempt status automatically revoked.