The Urban Farming Institute of Bostoninc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
453961022
IRS 990 coverage
2018–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Mattapan, MA, USA
Phone
6176805378
Rating
69
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Economic Development

Reported finances

Revenue
$3,345,331
Expenses
$1,853,852
Assets
$7,742,817
Liabilities
$82,690

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

Leadership & pay

7 people listed

Highest reported compensation

  • PATRICIA SPENCE (EXEC DIR/ PR): $138,332 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Organizations mission the urban farming institute's (ufi) mission is to develop and promote urban farming to engage individuals in growing food locally and building a healthy community. Vision: thriving, resilient communities where individuals and families have access to healthy food, a deeper connection to the land, and strengthened social networks. Training and engagement of bipoc individuals so that our community is anchored and committed to a vision of the future that is healthy, empowered, and safe.

What it reported doing in 2024

Community programs/npo partner outreach/ corporate connections: "live music: over 16 plus jazz, afro-latin jazz, bomba performances occurred at the ufi farm stand to attract the community and provide a safe place to shop, and participate in arts & crafts. "ufi completed building and installing additional 26 grow boxes in 2024. That means that people are growing healthy food in their backyards, front yards and porches. Guidance occurred for these at the seedling sale and in-person at fcef. Ufi created a 'grow series' to teach residents all the steps of growing food. Ufi hosted 10 saturday/sunday 'how to grow' classes. "over 6700 servings of food through our community meal bags. Funded by donors committed to fighting hunger and food insecurity the meals were prepared by bipoc chefs and consisted of fresh vegetables, starch, and a protein with enough food for a family of three. All meals were culturally relevant as well (callaloo, haitian stew, jerk chicken, yucca and more) "the 2024 thanksgiving / indigenous people's celebration food distribution of 475 turkeys (with the fixings) for families in need nominated by partner organizations, schools and neighbors. "the ufi food day and garlic fest was held in october of 2024. This is a free event for the entire family with demonstrations of culturally relevant food by diverse chefs an apple cider-press and activities for children, family health education discussions and workshops, and a free book give away. 100 plus attendees. Families learned all about garlic and how to plant garlic at the event. "779 volunteers continued to help ufi with farming and weeding. An average volunteer works for two hours (volunteers consisted of corporate volunteers, neighbors, students and youth). "collaborating community organizations are abcd bowdoin street health center, sportsmen's tennis club and enrichment center, dorchester food coop, bethel ame church, the food project, and mattapan food and fitness, victory programs, and oasis on ballou. "school programs continued at the joseph lee school, codman academy charter school, dearborn school, ellison parks school, and milton academy to name a few.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 90% 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

SUPPORTED - The filed numbers largely add up and most voting board members are independent. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 49
  • Transparency & Controls: 86
  • Accountability: 74
  • Sustainability: 81
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 39.1%; rating input score 39
  • Program expense ratio: 66%; rating input score 66
  • Fundraising efficiency: $15.16 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 51; 51st percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 91.7%; rating input score 92; 7th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • 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: 3 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 38
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 44.6%; rating input score 91; 91st percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 4.18; rating input score 81; 81st percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.01; rating input score 85; 85th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 7.5%; rating input score 39; 39th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 15.3% per year; rating input score 100; 78th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 19.3% per year; rating input score 100; 87th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 32.4% per year; rating input score 100; 94th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 39.1% of revenue deployed · 66% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 6 of 6 board members independent · 3 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $1.2M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $138K · 7 people listed
  • Consistency: 29 of 30 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 6 filing years from 2018 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • 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.

  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 39/100.
  • Moderate — Accountability: Governance controls: 4 of 7 not reported.
  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 51/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Schedule G fundraiser detail did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 39/100.