New World Survival · Community Garden Field Manual
Annual Garden Health Audit Workbook
Evaluate whether the garden is durable enough to operate another year. Use evidence, inspection and operating records to assign domain dispositions, corrective actions and next-year capacity.
This is an operational self-audit. It is not an independent financial audit, legal opinion, environmental clearance, ADA certification or food-safety inspection. Escalate issues that require qualified review.
1. Audit charter
Governing body / sponsor accepting report Next-year planning deadline 2. Hard-stop screen
| Question | Yes / No / Unknown | Evidence / source | Immediate action |
|---|
| Current authority to use the land? | | | |
| Required insurance / sponsor authorization current? | | | |
| Safe and authorized irrigation source for intended use? | | | |
| No unresolved flood/soil/chemical/food-safety stop affecting active food production? | | | |
| Financial records/custody sufficient to explain and control current funds? | | | |
| Authorized leadership exists to make next-year commitments? | | | |
| No unsafe site condition requiring affected-area closure? | | | |
3. Evidence packet completeness
| Evidence | Current? | Authoritative location | Missing / limitation |
|---|
| Land / insurance / permits / sponsor | ☐ | | |
| Rules / bylaws / agreements / minutes | ☐ | | |
| Roster / plot map / waitlist / notices | ☐ | | |
| Budget / actuals / statements / grant records | ☐ | | |
| Water bills / use / repairs / restrictions | ☐ | | |
| Infrastructure / tools / accessibility records | ☐ | | |
| Safety / soil / flood / food / incident records | ☐ | | |
| Volunteer / workday / maintenance records | ☐ | | |
| Harvest / donation / partner records | ☐ | | |
| Operating calendar / succession plan | ☐ | | |
4. Domain dashboard
Disposition: Healthy / Watch / Correct / Stop or Major Intervention. Do not calculate one composite score.
| Domain | Disposition | Top evidence | Owner if Watch/Correct/Stop |
|---|
| Land / authority / insurance | | | |
| Governance / decision rights | | | |
| Leadership depth / succession | | | |
| Membership / plots | | | |
| Fairness / enforcement / conflict | | | |
| Finances / controls | | | |
| Water reliability / cost | | | |
| Infrastructure / tools / accessibility | | | |
| Soil / food safety / hazards | | | |
| Maintenance / volunteer capacity | | | |
| Harvest / donation / institutional | | | |
| Neighbors / sponsors / partners | | | |
| Records / annual calendar | | | |
| Resilience / future capacity | | | |
5. Land, authority and insurance
| Audit item | Finding | Evidence | Disposition impact |
|---|
| Current written authority / agreement | | | |
| Renewal / termination risk | | | |
| Water / security / fee responsibilities | | | |
| Required insurance / permits | | | |
| Improvements / restoration responsibilities | | | |
| Landowner / sponsor relationship backup | | | |
6. Governance and decision rights
| Audit item | Healthy evidence | Finding |
|---|
| Current written rules/bylaws/management plan | Authoritative copy and review date | |
| Leadership roles and authority | Named roles and decision limits | |
| Meeting/action records | Minutes/decision log | |
| Rule changes follow governing process | Recorded authorization | |
| Conflict/dispute process used consistently | Process records without unnecessary personal detail | |
7. Leadership depth / succession
| Critical function | Primary | Backup | Backup practiced? | Dependency correction |
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☐ Emergency Leadership Transition Card current
☐ Coordinator can take an extended absence without operations stopping
☐ No critical external relationship depends on one person only
8. Membership and plot utilization
| Measure | Start of season | Midseason | Year end | What changed / why? |
|---|
| Total plots | | | | |
| Assigned plots | | | | |
| Actively tended plots | | | | |
| Vacant plots | | | | |
| Abandoned / reassigned plots | | | | |
| Waitlist / qualified demand | | | | |
Exit / nonrenewal themes without identifying individuals 9. Fairness, enforcement and conflict
| Issue | How often? | Written process followed? | Recurring system cause? | Change needed? |
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10. Finances and internal controls
Restricted / committed funds Known unpaid obligations / deferred repairs | Control question | Finding | Correction if needed |
|---|
| Who receives/deposits money? | | |
| Who approves/spends? | | |
| Who records transactions? | | |
| Who reconciles? | | |
| Who independently reviews statements? | | |
| Required tax/grant/sponsor reporting current? | | |
11. Water reliability and cost
| Measure / issue | Prior year | Audit year | Explanation / action |
|---|
| Water cost | | | |
| Known use / meter reading where available | | | |
| Leak / failure events | | | |
| Drought/restriction events | | | |
| Source safety/advisory events | | | |
| Unresolved system repair | | | |
12. Infrastructure, tools and accessibility walk
| System | Condition | Repeated failure? | Access/usability issue? | Backlog / project change? |
|---|
| Paths / drainage | | ☐ | ☐ | |
| Beds / structures | | ☐ | ☐ | |
| Fences / gates | | ☐ | ☐ | |
| Water points / hoses | | ☐ | ☐ | |
| Shed / storage / signs | | ☐ | ☐ | |
| Shared tools | | ☐ | ☐ | |
| Accessible routes / controls / participation | | ☐ | ☐ | |
13. Soil, food safety and hazard closeout
| Question | Open issue? | Specialist / authority | Restriction / disposition |
|---|
| Unresolved soil/site-history contamination? | ☐ | | |
| Flooded beds / flood-food questions? | ☐ | | |
| Water quality / advisory question? | ☐ | | |
| Pesticide / interval / chemical issue? | ☐ | | |
| Compost/manure safety issue? | ☐ | | |
| Harvest / donation rejection safety issue? | ☐ | | |
| Incident / injury corrective action open? | ☐ | | |
14. Maintenance and volunteer capacity
| Measure | Finding | Concentrated in few people? | Next-year implication |
|---|
| Routine common-area chores | | ☐ | |
| Workdays / completion outcomes | | ☐ | |
| Repair backlog opened vs closed | | ☐ | |
| Leadership/admin hours | | ☐ | |
| New task leads trained | | ☐ | |
| Tasks repeatedly rescued at last minute | | ☐ | |
15. Harvest, donation and institutional commitments
| Measure / relationship | Result | Useful to recipient / users? | Capacity / safety problem? | Change next year |
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16. Neighbors, sponsors and partners
| Relationship | Primary + backup contact? | Unresolved promise / complaint? | Next deadline / action |
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17. Records and Annual Operating Calendar
| Question | Finding | Correction |
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| Multiple authorized people can locate current records? | | |
| Operating calendar hard deadlines completed with evidence? | | |
| Recurring tasks completed / missed patterns understood? | | |
| Trigger events documented and closed? | | |
| Decision history/minutes current? | | |
| Retention/privacy practices followed? | | |
18. Resilience and next-year capacity
| Capacity question | Current evidence | Next-year decision |
|---|
| Can leadership operate through absence/vacancy? | | |
| Can water system handle likely heat/drought restrictions? | | |
| Can garden respond to flood/site closure? | | |
| Can finances cover recurring operations and known repairs? | | |
| Can volunteer/maintenance base support current scale? | | |
| Can donation/program commitments be met safely? | | |
| Should plots/events/programs expand, hold or reduce? | | |
19. Corrective-action register
| Domain / finding | Disposition | Corrective action | Owner | Backup | Due | Money / approval | Completion evidence |
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20. Annual Garden Health Report / handoff
Strongest system this year Most important vulnerability Next-year capacity decision☐ maintain ☐ reduce ☐ correct before expanding ☐ suspend affected program / major intervention
☐ Correct/Stop items moved to next Annual Operating Calendar
☐ Budget includes accepted corrective work
☐ Succession plan updated for leadership dependencies
☐ Sensitive details removed from public-facing annual report
☐ Members/partners told the appropriate high-level findings and changes
☐ Next audit window scheduled
Three system changes that must be visible next year