Contents
Purpose
This audit maps the publicly indexed digital footprint of Rural Coalition / Coalicion Rural across federal grant databases, IRS nonprofit filings, foundation directories, court records, certificate transparency logs, the Wayback Machine, and the entity's own web properties.
What can anyone with a search engine learn about your organization in 30 minutes?
For a national advocacy nonprofit, digital footprint management is not just about security — it is about controlling the narrative. Every grant record, tax filing, archived document, and court filing that is publicly indexed contributes to a composite picture that funders, journalists, policymakers, and competing organizations can reconstruct. This audit reveals what that picture looks like.
Methodology
The following data sources were queried:
- Google advanced search (dorking) with targeted operators
- Wayback Machine CDX API (web.archive.org) for historical archival analysis
- Certificate Transparency logs (crt.sh) for SSL/TLS certificate and subdomain discovery
- USASpending.gov API for federal grant and cooperative agreement records
- ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer for IRS Form 990 filings
- Charity Navigator for financial health ratings
- GuideStar / Candid for nonprofit profile data
- Federal court dockets (Justia, CourtListener) for litigation records
- Federal Register (federalregister.gov) for regulatory filings
- DNS records (dig) for infrastructure analysis
- FEMA, EPA, USGS for disaster and environmental records
- News coverage across general and agricultural media
Governance & Sensitive Documents
| # | Document | Hosted On | Risk | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Congressional testimony and policy letters | ruralco.org | Low | Public advocacy materials — intentional publication |
| 2 | Regulations.gov rulemaking comment | regulations.gov | Low | Public comment includes ED email lpicciano@ruralco.org |
| 3 | ZoomInfo employee directory | zoominfo.com | Medium | Third-party scraped directory listing 11-50 personnel |
| 4 | GuideStar nonprofit profile | guidestar.org | Low | Standard nonprofit transparency — EIN 52-1203899 |
| 5 | ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer | propublica.org | Low | IRS 990 filings aggregated |
Assessment: LOW
No confidential, internal, or restricted documents were found indexed on third-party servers. The only notable third-party exposure is ZoomInfo's scraped employee directory. All other findings are standard nonprofit transparency disclosures.
Wayback Machine Archive
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Total unique pages archived | 18,585 |
| Total unique PDFs/documents archived | 154 PDFs + 30 DOC/HTM files |
| Earliest snapshot | 1999-11-27 |
| Most recent snapshot | 2024-09-12 |
| Hosting platform history | Static HTML → MemberClicks CMS → Squarespace |
Notable Archived Paths
| # | Document | Type | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pigford II Letter | Pigford v. Glickman II settlement correspondence | |
| 2 | Shirley Sherrod July 25, 2010 | USDA forced resignation controversy | |
| 3 | A Seat At The Table (Revised May 2010) | Policy advocacy paper on representation | |
| 4 | Disaster Training Manual | Disaster preparedness training for rural communities | |
| 5 | Brief History of the Rural Coalition | HTM | Organizational history (2001 snapshot) |
| 6 | Assessing USDA Compensation for Lending Discrimination | HTM | USDA lending discrimination analysis |
| 7 | Searching for Virtual Equality | Digital divide policy paper | |
| 8 | The Decline of Minority Farmers | DOC | Minority farmer population decline report |
| 9 | Fall River Wild Rice Operations | DOC | Tribal/indigenous wild rice operations |
| 10 | 2009 Gala Invite/Factsheet | Fundraising gala materials |
Exposed admin path: The early website contained an open /library/admin/uploadedfiles/ directory with ~30 documents accessible without authentication, all still available in archived snapshots.
Assessment: MEDIUM-HIGH
25-year archive spanning three platform generations. 154 PDFs plus 30+ Word documents covering USDA discrimination litigation, the Shirley Sherrod controversy, Farm Bill advocacy, and cooperative organizing — all still accessible via the Wayback Machine.
Certificate Transparency
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Total certificates found | 150+ |
| Certificate issuer(s) | Let's Encrypt (R10-R13); historically COMODO |
| Earliest certificate | ~2013 |
| Most recent certificate | 2026-04-08 |
| Wildcard certs? | No |
| Renewal pattern | 90-day automated Let's Encrypt cycle |
| # | Subdomain | First Seen | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ruralco.org | ~2013 | Root domain |
| 2 | www.ruralco.org | ~2013 | WWW subdomain — separately certified |
Assessment: CLEAN
Minimal, well-managed TLS footprint. Only two hostnames, no wildcards, no gaps in coverage. Attack surface through CT logs is effectively zero.
Funding & Contract Records
IRS 990 Profile
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| EIN | 52-1203899 |
| 501(c)(3) since | August 1998 |
| Address | 1029 Vermont Ave NW #601, Washington, DC 20005 |
| ED compensation | $125,000 salary + $23,288 other (FY2024) |
| Charity Navigator | Three Stars (82/100) |
| Program expense ratio | 94.53% (3-year avg) |
| Audit finding | "Significant deficiency in internal controls" (FY2022, FY2023) |
Revenue Trajectory
| FY | Revenue | Expenses | Net Assets |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | $9,501,775 | $9,816,642 | $1,200,955 |
| 2023 | $5,258,670 | $4,837,766 | — |
| 2022 | $4,253,098 | $3,985,365 | — |
| 2021 | $2,374,637 | $2,388,549 | — |
| 2020 | $778,120 | $827,869 | — |
| 2019 | $914,832 | $770,397 | — |
| 2018 | $726,084 | $579,868 | — |
Revenue grew 12x from FY2020 ($778K) to FY2024 ($9.5M).
Federal Awards (confirmed via USASpending)
| # | Award | Amount | Agency | Period |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ARPTAI Farmer-Mentor Network | $8,955,772 | USDA/NIFA | 2022-2027 |
| 2 | NRCS Conservation Partnerships | $950,000 | USDA/NRCS | 2020-2022 |
| 3 | Section 2501 Puerto Rico TA | $750,000 | USDA/2501 | 2024-2027 |
| 4 | Catalyze Resilient Operations | $702,900 | USDA/NRCS | 2022-2024 |
| 5 | Beginning Farmer Mentorship | $600,000 | USDA/NIFA | 2021-2025 |
| 6 | Community Resilience Land Tenure | $500,000 | USDA/NIFA | 2021-2025 |
| 7 | APHIS RCDI Outreach (2020) | $410,000 | USDA/APHIS | 2020-2021 |
| 8 | APHIS RCDI Outreach (2022) | $205,000 | USDA/APHIS | 2022-2024 |
| 9 | APHIS RCDI Outreach (2019) | $205,000 | USDA/APHIS | 2018-2019 |
| 10 | Rural Resilience Research Forum | $50,000 | USDA/NIFA | 2019-2020 |
| 11 | Census of Agriculture Dissemination | $30,000 | USDA/NASS | 2019-2023 |
Total confirmed federal awards: $13,358,672 (100% from USDA)
USDA Sub-Agency Dependency
| Sub-Agency | Awards | Total |
|---|---|---|
| NIFA | 4 | $10,135,772 |
| NRCS | 3 | $1,652,900 |
| APHIS/RCDI | 3 | $820,000 |
| Section 2501 | 1 | $750,000 |
| NASS | 1 | $30,000 |
Assessment: MEDIUM
Entire federal funding portfolio is reconstructable from public records. 100% dependent on USDA, with a single $8.96M ARPTAI cooperative agreement representing 67% of total confirmed awards. The "significant deficiency in internal controls" audit finding merits attention.
Legal & Regulatory Records
Litigation / Court Records
| # | Case | Source | Type | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rural Coalition v. USEPA (9th Cir.) | Justia | Petitioner | Challenged glyphosate re-registration. 9th Circuit vacated EPA's finding (June 2022). Won. |
| 2 | Monsanto v. Durnell (SCOTUS) | SCOTUSblog | Amicus brief | Opposing Monsanto-Bayer federal preemption bid. Pending. |
| 3 | CFS Petition for Glyphosate Cancellation | CFS | Admin. petition | Co-petitioner demanding EPA cancel glyphosate registrations (Dec 2023) |
| 4 | CFPB Constitutionality (SCOTUS) | SCOTUS | Amicus brief | Defended CFPB funding structure. SCOTUS upheld CFPB (May 2024). |
Regulatory Filings
| # | Filing | Source | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Farm Bill advocacy (1985-2024) | ruralco.org | 8 Farm Bill cycles; 45+ policy sections enacted |
| 2 | USDA National Small Farmers Conference | Sustainable Ag Summit | Formal USDA advisory role |
| 3 | House Climate Crisis Committee comments | ruralco.org | Formal written submission |
| 4 | Fair Access for Farmers and Ranchers Act | ruralco.org | Led 120-group coalition endorsement (2018) |
Assessment: LOW
Clean legal profile. Only litigation is as petitioner or amicus in environmental and farmworker safety cases — never a defendant. 9th Circuit victory vacating EPA's glyphosate finding is the most significant action.
Infrastructure & Technical Surface
| Record | Value | Significance |
|---|---|---|
| A | 198.185.159.144/145, 198.49.23.144/145 | Squarespace (load-balanced) |
| CNAME (www) | ext-sq.squarespace.com | Confirms Squarespace |
| MX | aspmx.l.google.com + alternates | Google Workspace |
| NS | ns01-04.squarespacedns.com | Squarespace DNS (NS1) |
| TXT (SPF) | v=spf1 include:_spf.google.com include:spf.ccsend.com ~all | Google + Constant Contact; soft-fail |
| TXT (DMARC) | v=DMARC1; p=none | Monitor-only, no enforcement |
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Hosting platform | Squarespace |
| Domain type | .org |
| Email provider | Google Workspace |
| Email marketing | Constant Contact |
| Subdomains | 2 (root + www) |
| Security headers | Partial (HSTS yes; CSP, X-Frame-Options absent) |
| DKIM | Not found at standard selector |
Assessment: LOW
Standard managed-hosting stack. Email authentication partially configured — DMARC at monitor-only and no DKIM leaves the domain somewhat vulnerable to spoofing.
Disaster & Environmental
Assessment: CLEAN
DC-based advocacy nonprofit with no direct disaster exposure. Disaster-related footprint is entirely in the policy space — advocating for equitable USDA disaster assistance for small, minority, and indigenous farmers.
Media & Public Narrative
| # | Article/Source | Date | Key Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 17th Annual Winter Forum | 2026-01 | 251 in-person + 83 virtual participants; Hill visits |
| 2 | 200+ Groups Endorse Merger Moratorium | 2018-11 | RC among 213 orgs endorsing antitrust legislation |
| 3 | Fair Access for Farmers Act | 2018-06 | Led 120-group coalition on heirs' property |
| 4 | FAO Agroecology Database | Ongoing | International recognition by United Nations |
Leadership
| # | Name | Role | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lorette Picciano | Executive Director (since 1992) | |
| 2 | John Zippert | Board Chairperson | ruralco.org |
Assessment: CLEAN
Consistent, mission-aligned media narrative. Lorette Picciano is the dominant public voice with 34 years at the helm. The organization punches above its budget weight by leveraging a 60+ member coalition network.
Risk Summary
Risk Scorecard
| Category | Assessment |
|---|---|
| Governance & Documents | LOW |
| Wayback Archive | MEDIUM-HIGH |
| Certificate Transparency | CLEAN |
| Funding & Contracts | MEDIUM |
| Legal & Regulatory | LOW |
| Infrastructure | LOW |
| Disaster & Environmental | CLEAN |
| Media & Narrative | CLEAN |
Rural Coalition has a moderate digital footprint. The two most significant findings are (1) the fully reconstructable federal funding portfolio showing 100% USDA dependency and a 12x revenue spike, and (2) the extensive Wayback Machine archive preserving 25 years of organizational documents. The "significant deficiency in internal controls" audit finding during rapid growth could attract scrutiny.
Recommendations
Immediate Actions
- Review Wayback Machine archive — The
/library/admin/uploadedfiles/directory from the original website is preserved with ~30 organizational documents. Consider requesting Wayback Machine exclusion for sensitive paths. - Strengthen email authentication — Upgrade DMARC from
p=nonetop=quarantineorp=rejectand configure Google DKIM to protect against domain spoofing. - Review ZoomInfo listing — Third-party scraped employee directory is publicly indexed. Consider requesting removal.
Ongoing Monitoring
- USASpending.gov — Complete federal funding portfolio is publicly reconstructable. Ensure public narrative matches funding data.
- ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer — The "significant deficiency in internal controls" finding is visible to anyone. Address before next filing.
Strategic Considerations
- Single-award concentration risk — $8.96M ARPTAI = 67% of federal funding. Diversification would reduce exposure.
- USDA equity program vulnerability — 100% USDA dependency during a period of policy uncertainty for agricultural equity programs.
- Archive as institutional memory — The Wayback archive preserves valuable institutional records (Pigford, discrimination analysis) with ongoing significance.
What This Means
Donor and grant transparency means your funding portfolio, tax filings, and program outcomes are publicly assembled in ways that shape how funders and the public perceive your organization. For Rural Coalition, the composite picture is largely positive: a 48-year track record of agricultural civil rights advocacy with lean operations and high program expense ratios. But the rapid revenue growth, single-agency funding dependency, and internal control findings create a narrative that requires active management — especially in a political environment where USDA equity programs face scrutiny.