Balanced Rock Foundation

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
260778922
IRS 990 coverage
2014–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
El Portal, CA, USA
Phone
2093799453
Rating
77
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Adult, Continuing Education

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$478,779
Expenses
$438,069
Assets
$921,070
Liabilities
$18,124

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

9 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Heather Sullivan (Executive Director)
  • Maggie Jones (President)
  • Kimiko Martinez (Vice President of the Board)

Highest reported compensation

  • Heather Sullivan (Executive Director): $102,883 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Balanced Rock Foundation inspires health and wellbeing through a deep connection to nature and spirit. We provide enriching educational programs, service opportunities and wilderness journeys to participants who wish to foster individual well-being and healthy living. We provide a forum to practice and cultivate personal balance, inspire compassion in action and strengthen one's connection with the natural world, community and environment. This enhances participants' experiences of Yosemite and provides them with valuable tools to bring back to their communities.

What it reported doing in 2025

Balanced Rock Foundation (BRF) offered a variety of programs, classes, and workshops that served the local communities and visitors to Yosemite National Park. These programs range from shorter guided adventures to informational workshops to multi-day retreats that focused on yoga, wellness, creativity, skills building, and personal transformation in the natural world.

Operating model

Revenue model
Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 100% 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.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - The filed numbers largely add up and a large share of available resources goes toward mission work. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 61
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 90
  • Sustainability: 49
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 60%; rating input score 60
  • Program expense ratio: 60.6%; rating input score 61
  • Fundraising efficiency: $29.66 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 64; 64th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th 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: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 8.5%; rating input score 54; 54th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.1; rating input score 60; 60th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.02; rating input score 35; 35th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 23.5%; rating input score 15; 15th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 6% per year; rating input score 100; 54th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 4.2% per year; rating input score 100; 43rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 3.7% per year; rating input score 100; 38th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 60% of revenue deployed · 60.6% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 9 of 9 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $265K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $103K · 9 people listed
  • Consistency: 41 of 41 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 11 filing years from 2014 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • 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.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
  • Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 54/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 15/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 35/100.