Access Youth Academy
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 205119659
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2013–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2009
- Location
- San Diego, CA, USA
- Phone
- 8588605688
- Rating
- 82
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Standard
- Sector
- Youth Development Programs
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $1,730,026
- Expenses
- $2,201,323
- Assets
- $9,234,322
- Liabilities
- $10,192,299
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
26 people listed
Highest reported compensation
- RENATO PAIVA (Executive Dir.): $255,161 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
To transform lives of underserved youth through academic enrichment, health and wellness, social responsibility and leadership through squash. Aya uses the sport of squash as a catalyst to transform the lives of underserved youth.
What it reported doing in 2024
Founded in 2006, Access Youth Academy is an after-school life-skill and academic enrichment program for low-income San Diego youth aged 10-24+ designed to foster equal access to higher education, healthy lifestyle habits, and post-college graduation employment.We believe every child should have equal access to achieve their full potential.Access Youth Academys mission is to transform the lives of underserved youth through academic enrichment, health and wellness, social responsibility, critical thinking, and leadership development using the sport of squash as a catalyst.Access Youth Academy students are low-income as defined by Federal standards. Most currently come from high-need neighborhoods in Southeastern San Diego and strive to be the first in their families to attend college. Barriers to success include poverty, food insecurity, neighborhood violence, and family instability.Over 17 years, Access students have achieved a 100% high school graduation rate, a 100% college acceptance rate, secured over $10.8 Million in earned scholarships, and our student- athletes have won a total of 13 National Squash Titles. Access students have been accepted to and earned degrees from some of the nations top-rated schools including Columbia, Dartmouth, Amherst, Wesleyan, Bowdoin, Trinity, Cornell, Princeton, Stanford, UC Berkeley, and UCSD. Access program graduates have entered careers in biotechnology, structural engineering, cognitive science, medical fields, finance, and immigration law.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 74% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The filing allocates 89% 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.
The verdict
STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and expenses are high relative to revenue.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 81
- Transparency & Controls: 83
- Accountability: 90
- Sustainability: 32
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 95.6%; rating input score 96
- Program expense ratio: 74.9%; rating input score 75
- Fundraising efficiency: $7.06 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 27; 27th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 2 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 33
- Compensation committee: Missing
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
- Written employment contract: Pass
- Compensation survey or study: Missing
- Board or committee approval: Pass
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 76th percentile among comparable filings
- 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: 6 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 75
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Other executive compensation review process: Pass
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Missing
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -27.2%; rating input score 7; 7th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 4.19; rating input score 82; 82nd percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 1.1; rating input score 5; 5th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 11.6%; rating input score 32; 32nd percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 13.3% per year; rating input score 100; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 10.6% per year; rating input score 100; 68th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 16.8% per year; rating input score 100; 76th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 95.6% of revenue deployed · 74.9% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 21 of 21 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $1.6M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $255K · 26 people listed · 2 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Consistency: 32 of 32 current checks pass
- Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
- Filing history: 11 filing years from 2013 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 3 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 2 filed related-organization links
- 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 — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 27/100.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 7/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 5/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 32/100.