Ventura County Farm to School

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
874401093
IRS 990 coverage
2022–2024
Official website data refreshed
Sep 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-N 2021
Location
Camarillo, CA, USA
Phone
8054437458
Rating
84
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Food, Agriculture, and Nutrition N.E.C.

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$266,589
Expenses
$381,806
Assets
$102,178
Liabilities
$0

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

Leadership & pay

5 people listed

Highest reported compensation

  • ANNA JACKSON (EXECUTIVE DI): $102,000 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Ventura County Farm to School connects students with fresh, locally grown food through school gardens, farm-to-school programs, and agricultural education.

What it reported doing in 2024

Vc farm to school provides nutrition and garden education to students throughout our community. We provide professional development for teachers in the areas of garden and nutrition education. We write grants for farms and school districts. Our efforts brought in 2m in grant funding for school districts and the school food hub, our own nonprofit. Over 30 school gardens received support in terms of consulting, labor, education, supplies and materials. We coordinate donations of supplies and materials for school gardens. Through this work over 30k students participated in programs.the school food hub continues to serve over 60,000 students throughout more than 60 schools and five school districts in oxnard and santa paula, ventura, oak park, simi valley, ojai. We continue to support the school food hub that connects 70 schools across five districts to 20 local farmers between santa barbara and ventura counties. Over 30,000 students participated in nutrition and garden education. Over 80 teachers received training to bring garden and nutrition education to their schools. We trained 80 cafeteria staff on scratch cooking farm to table recipes.

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.
  • 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: 89
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 90
  • Sustainability: 18
  • Growth: 40

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 87%; rating input score 87
  • Fundraising efficiency: $10.62 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 41; 41st percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th 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: 6 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 75
    • 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: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -43.2%; rating input score 6; 6th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.27; rating input score 14; 14th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 80; 80th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 26.7%; rating input score 13; 13th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 63.4% per year; rating input score 100; 97th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -15.1% per year; rating input score 0; 4th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -45.9% per year; rating input score 0; 1st percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 5 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 87% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 4 of 4 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $332K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $102K · 5 people listed
  • Consistency: 29 of 29 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 3 filing years from 2022 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: Fundraising efficiency scored 41/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 6/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 14/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 13/100.