More Gardens Fund
Public records show a registered, tax-exempt organization in good standing.
Points to look into
- It owes more than it owns.
These come from the organization's own tax return. There may be a good explanation; ask the charity.
What it says it does
More Gardens is a diverse coalition of community gardeners, artists, and activists committed to enhancing and preserving community gardens, farms and fallow lands in New York City and State. Rooted in earth-based art and education, we generate wellness, social justice, and abundance for low-income and immigrant communities.
- Income
- $91,957
- Spending
- $92,691
- Reserves
- -10.9 months of spending
- Largest source of income
- donations and private grants, 100%
Source: Form 990EZ for the year ending December 31, 2024, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Financial health
Weak: 11 out of 100. Higher than 2% of charities in its peer group (environment, under $250k).
Reserves
0 of 35Spendable reserves are negative: it owes or has committed more than it holds.
Debt
0 of 20It owes 1645% of what it owns.
Living within its means
8 of 15Spending exceeded income by 1% of income.
Source: Form 990EZ for the year ending December 31, 2024, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Governance
This organization files the short tax form, which does not ask about boards, policies or audits. That is normal for a small charity and is not a mark against it.
Source: Form 990EZ for the year ending December 31, 2024, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Impact evidence
Describes programs. Its tax return describes what it does but we have found no measurable results in it.
Programs described in its return (6)
- $48,060 spent. Program 1 - EDUCATIONAL ART PROGRAMS & INITIATIVES: A-.................................................................................................................................................................................................... South Bronx - Rise Up and Green the Bronx Family Programming - Mott Haven community gardeners, children, and their families. Programs create individual and group leadership skills for Bronx children and families. Upstate on Fern Dragon Farm and in Bronx Community Gardens, children and families learn organic farming techniques and increase nature awareness, nutrition, and wellness skills through art-making and games. The program grows leadership capabilities for Bronx residents, children, and young adults who want food and environmental justice for their neighborhoods. _Grant- $5,000 Expenditure- $6,900 B-............................................................................................................................................................................................. Lower East Side at Children's Magical Garden Family Programs This free camp ensures a beloved community garden serves the children who need it the most-- low-income city children who would not otherwise have access to nature. In our nature education programs, children are mentored by young educators and experienced gardeners and teachers. The children are immersed in permaculture, urban farming, strategies for youth activism, collaborative arts in nature, and herbal medicine to grow their unique creativity within group dynamics. We also go on trips to other community gardens and urban farms where the children can learn from wise urban farmers citywide. The inclusion of cooperative-style teaching deepens playful peer-to-peer learning. Parents and dedicated community garden members contribute to this camp's essential success and joy, strengthening the local community._____ Grant- $5,000 Exp- $3,860 C-............................................................................................................................................................................................... Art & Nature - Open Street Sprouting Justice at Children's Magical Garden with DOT - Grants $36000 Exp 36,300
- $15,000 spent. 2 - ENVIRONMENTAL EARTH-BASED ARTS: Earth-based Arts. Aresh Javadi, along with help from other artists including George Hirose is working on a children's playhouse as well as educational murals. Aresh is working on willow sculptures on More Gardens farmland and in community, gardens to enhance beauty and wonder. More Gardens works with many artists to create signs, songs, and colorful pageants to increase the vibrance of community gardens and to enhance our educational programming's effectiveness.
- $13,000 spent. Program 3 - ANNUAL CELEBRATIONS - More Gardens' Chaharshanbeh Suri NYC is a festival rooted in community, sharing, equity, and reverence for the earth through ritual fire jumping, art, music, food, and culture that began in the lands of West and Central Asia. This fire celebration nourishes our spirits, strengthens our connection to each other, and affirms our belonging by embracing our diverse nationalities, languages, faiths, class, genders, races, and sexual identities. We make gathering joyful through art, music, food, culture, and intergenerational sharing. We hold each other to tend the flames of love, justice, solidarity, and goodness across the planet and right here in the community green spaces of NYC.
- $7,714 spent. Program 2 - UPSTATE FARMLAND & RETREAT INITIATIVE: More Gardens has acquired a ten-year lease on an 8-acres of land in the Southern Catskills and is setting up the first phase of creating a home base for our Free Nature and Farming Programs, as well as a regenerative, low-impact environmental education center for community gardeners to come to share, learn, and deepen together for the benefit of nature and social justice. As well as this bridge to the NYC urban farming, the More Gardens' Initiative aims to deliver a successful low-impact living development in New York State's Catskills, benefiting the environment and local community economy. The settlement's achievements will be utilized to multiply regenerative benefits through its use as a research and demonstration resource to promote best practices and support the development of similarly successful projects. In particular, More Gardens aims to demonstrate the viability of low-impact development as a settlement model that has the potential to rejuvenate the rural landscape and economy.
- $500 spent. 5 - THE ART & CAMPAIGNS OF NYC COMMUNITY GARDEN JUSTICE - ONLINE DATABASE: More Gardens! Is preserving, uploading, and creating historical context around pictorial and video archives to showcase the long history of the protection of community gardens to inspire the next generation of community gardeners and garden activists.
- $4,500 spent. Governors Island Defense Fund Fiscal Sponsorship
Source: Form 990EZ for the year ending December 31, 2024, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Legitimacy checks
Is it registered with the IRS? Passed.
Listed in the IRS master file of tax-exempt organizations as a 501(c)(3) charitable organization.
Source: Exempt Organizations Business Master File, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.
Has the IRS revoked its tax-exempt status? Passed.
Not on the IRS automatic revocation list.
Source: Automatic revocation of exemption list, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.
Are donations tax-deductible? Passed.
On the IRS list of organizations eligible to receive tax-deductible contributions.
Source: Publication 78 data: organizations eligible for tax-deductible contributions, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.
Is it keeping up with its IRS filings? Passed.
Most recent return on file covers the year ending December 2024.
Source: Exempt Organizations Business Master File, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.
How long has it been tax-exempt? Passed.
Recognized by the IRS since September 2004.
Source: Exempt Organizations Business Master File, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.
Is it in good standing with state regulators? Passed.
Not on California's list of charities barred from soliciting. Other states are not yet checked.
Source: May Not Operate or Solicit for Charitable Purposes list, California Attorney General, Registry of Charities and Fundraisers, file dated October 21, 2026.
Ratings and checks are our reading of public records, using the published method. They are not a statement about anyone's honesty. If you work for this organization, you can send corrections or results, confirm you want gifts through Veridonate, or ask to be removed from giving.