Wolfe's Neck Farm Foundation
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 222586116
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2011–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024
- Location
- Freeport, ME, USA
- Phone
- 2078654469
- Rating
- 80
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Public Foundations
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $9,703,519
- Expenses
- $9,100,588
- Assets
- $18,608,937
- Liabilities
- $4,724,004
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
15 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Emily Carville (Vice President)
- Megan Hellstedt (President)
- David Herring (Executive Director)
Highest reported compensation
- Dorn Cox (Employee): $153,245 total reported compensation
- David Herring (Executive Director): $122,538 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 mission of Wolfe's Neck Center for Agriculture & The Environment is to transform our relationship with farming and food for a healthier planet.
What it reported doing in 2024
Visitor Services - Wolfe's Neck Center, oceanfront camping has been an integral part of Wolfe's Neck for over 50 years. While enjoying the camping experiences, guests may enjoy many opportunities to learn about food and farming and building connections to the natural environment. The farm is open year-round and in addition to our campers, Wolfe's Neck is a key contributor to the community offering ongoing educational and recreational opportunities for all ages.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 81% 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. Few specific pay-setting methods are documented in the filing; unanswered boxes are not proof of absence and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 83
- Transparency & Controls: 65
- Accountability: 95
- Sustainability: 56
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 83.6%; rating input score 84
- Program expense ratio: 88.6%; rating input score 89
- Fundraising efficiency: $18.58 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 57; 57th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 0 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 0
- Compensation committee: Missing
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
- Written employment contract: Missing
- Compensation survey or study: Missing
- Board or committee approval: Missing
- 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: 7 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 88
- 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: Fail
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 6.2%; rating input score 54; 54th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.04; rating input score 62; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.25; rating input score 38; 38th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 3%; rating input score 69; 69th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 20.5% per year; rating input score 100; 86th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 16.9% per year; rating input score 100; 85th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 10.3% per year; rating input score 100; 59th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 83.6% of revenue deployed · 88.6% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 13 of 13 board members independent · 7 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $8.1M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $153K · 15 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Consistency: 34 of 34 current checks pass
- Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
- Filing history: 13 filing years from 2011 to 2024
- 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.
- 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 — Transparency & Controls: Pay-setting controls scored 0/100.
- Review — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 57/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 54/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Form 990 shared with the board not reported.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 38/100.