Urban Roots Mn

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
410975429
IRS 990 coverage
2011–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
St Paul, MN, USA
Phone
6512287073
Rating
83
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$1,910,641
Expenses
$2,214,784
Assets
$780,412
Liabilities
$273,187

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

16 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • LEIF MASRUD (PRESIDENT)
  • DANIEL YANG (VICE PRESIDENT)
  • HAYLEY BALL (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)

Highest reported compensation

  • HAYLEY BALL (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $100,754 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Urban roots is a saint paul organization whose mission is to cultivate and empower youth through nature, healthy food, and community.

What it reported doing in 2025

Market garden program: served 25 youth in paid, job training internships and grew 13,500 pounds of produce on our 5 urban farm sites. Cook fresh program: served 20 youth in paid, job training internships and created a cook book that will be published in 2026 highlighting youth, staff and communtiy member food stories. Also served 1,280 meals to community members. See schedule o for additional program language.conservation: served 37 youth in paid job training internships and planted 4,320 plants over 278 acres of parkland in saint paul.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 93% 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.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

The verdict

STRONG - 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 expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 78
  • Transparency & Controls: 87
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 18
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 90%; rating input score 90
  • Program expense ratio: 77.6%; rating input score 78
  • Fundraising efficiency: $6.12 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 21; 21st percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 93.8%; rating input score 94; 25th 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; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 8 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 100
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -15.9%; rating input score 9; 9th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.35; rating input score 18; 18th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.35; rating input score 17; 17th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 4.5%; rating input score 51; 51st percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 15.6% per year; rating input score 100; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 14.1% per year; rating input score 100; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 9% per year; rating input score 100; 52nd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 90% of revenue deployed · 77.6% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 12 of 12 board members independent · 8 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $1.7M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $101K · 16 people listed
  • Highest-paid contractors: 1 contractor listed · $199K reported
  • Consistency: 27 of 28 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 13 filing years from 2011 to 2025
  • 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.

  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 21/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 9/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 18/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 17/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 51/100.