Sierra Harvest

“There were revisions made to the bylaws as well as policy register revisions. These changes were approved by the board of directors on may 23, 2024. Revisions include alterations to the requirements for voting, simplifying committees, simplifying lanaguage of board terms and re-election, adding in the vice president as an officer, updating financial audit requirements, as well as simplifying lanaguage in other topcis of the bylaws.”

“The 990 is reviewed by the board of directors prior to submission. The 990 is first submitted to the finance committee. The finance committee reviews the 990, suggests corrections, and then presents the amended document to the full board. The board then reviews the 990 prior to submission.”

“Board members and all staff sign our conflict of interest policy and disclosure statement when they join the board or are hired and any items of interest are reviwed by the executive director. Each year, board members and staff are asked to fill out an updated conflict of interest disclosure statement, and any items of interest are reviewed by the executive director.”

“The executive director prepares a budget for compensation using the non profit resource center's compensation guide for northern ca and regional job postings as a guide. Compensation also takes into account each employee's performance, their time in the position, their level of budgetary responsibility and their number of direct reports. The board then approves this budget. The board follows a similar process to set the salary of the executive director.”

“Sierra harvest's form 1023 and annual 990s are available at www.sierraharvest.org and on the guidestar website. Sierra harvest's policies and monthly financial statements are on file in our office and are available on request.”

“Sierra harvest's policies and monthly financial statements are on file in our office and by request.”

“This year 95 generous volunteers worked to help sierra harvest make progress towards their mission and vision. Our all-volunteer board of directors continued the implementation of the policy governance model, an integrated board leadership paradigm created by dr. John carver, which is a groundbreaking model of governance designed to empower boards of directors to fulfill their obligation of accountability for the organizations they govern. Volunteers also donated their time to help harvest fruits and vegetables that would otherwise go to waste from farms and home orchards and distributed them to a local food pantry. They turned beds, planted starts, harvested, and weeded at our educational food love farm. They helped our staff with significant data entry tasks that help track the impact of our programs, and took part in mailing parties for communications to the sierra harvest community.”

“Since the sierra gardens program was launched nine years ago, 119 veggie gardens have been installed across nevada county to homeowners, renters, local organizations and institutions, with the vision that community members can learn to love the benefits of growing their own fresh, local food. We have loved hearing from participants about their joy of growing their own veggies, how they started eating more vegetables at home, and how these gardens have given them a new space to unwind and recharge. While these unique gardens have touched the lives of thousands of adults and children, we transitioned away from the sierra gardens program in 2022 to explore how to best support a larger part of the community in getting access to freshly grown veggies. A recent partnership with interfaith food ministry in a 6-month community centered design process will help inform this evolution, as well as conversations with county and city officials who are interested in designating community garden spaces.”