Bay Foundation of Morro Bay

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
770215847
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024
Location
Morro Bay, CA, USA
Phone
8057723834
Rating
88
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$6,205,280
Expenses
$2,449,092
Assets
$26,943,958
Liabilities
$325,140

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

11 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • WILLIAM HENRY (PRESIDENT)
  • JASON CURTIS (VICE-PRESIDENT)
  • MELODIE GRUBBS (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)

Highest reported compensation

  • MELODIE GRUBBS (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $123,914 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 provide leadership in restoring, enhancing, and protecting the marine resources and watersheds of morro bay, estero bay, and the central coast of California.

What it reported doing in 2024

The mission of the central coast low impact development initiative (lidi) is to support the vision of healthy watersheds through the implementation of lid design principles, hydromodification controls, and sustainable development through the central coast region. The central coast region includes: san luis obispo, monterey, santa cruz, santa barbara, san benito, and part of santa clara and ventura countiesin 2009, the central coast water board established a low impact development endowment fund (lid fund) with the bay foundation of morro bay. This fund provides support for the lidi, which operates in partnership with uc davis extension, land use and natural resources program. Lidi services focus on the planning, design, and implementation of lid projects and programs. This includes training, regulatory compliance, site specific project designs, and large scale, long-term community level planning. Work is conducted by the program director and by firms and partners selected for their specific expertise related to lid implementation.

Operating model

Revenue model
Grant-funded. 63% of the money available for current operations came from government grants.
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.

The verdict

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and reported officer compensation is a large share of total spending, which may reflect staffing concentration.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 80
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 95
  • Sustainability: 88
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 81.3%; rating input score 81
  • Program expense ratio: 83.5%; rating input score 84
  • Fundraising efficiency: $23.75 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 64; 64th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd 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; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 7 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 88
    • 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: Fail
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 60.5%; rating input score 95; 95th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 11; rating input score 92; 92nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.01; rating input score 84; 84th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 5.1%; rating input score 53; 53rd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 6.3% per year; rating input score 100; 47th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 6.9% per year; rating input score 100; 54th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 5.7% per year; rating input score 100; 38th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 81.3% of revenue deployed · 83.5% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 9 of 9 board members independent · 7 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $2M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $124K · 11 people listed
  • Consistency: 28 of 28 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 15 filing years from 2010 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
  • 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: Audit committee oversight not reported.
  • Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 53/100.