Blue Sky Sustainable Living Center

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
461239650
IRS 990 coverage
2015–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2014, Form 990-N 2013
Location
New Cuyama, CA, USA
Phone
6614133005
Rating
81
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Environmental Quality, Protection, and Beautification N.E.C.

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$1,115,631
Expenses
$864,364
Assets
$1,366,116
Liabilities
$101,547

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

Leadership & pay

6 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • SAVANNAH FOX (President)

Highest reported compensation

  • SAMUEL BASSETT (Executive Dir.): $77,808 total reported compensation
  • Carmen Sandoval-Aqimowon (MEMBER-AT-LARGE): $75 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Blue sky center is a rural, place-based nonprofit organization with the mission to strengthen our rural communities within the cuyama valley by supporting entrepreneurs and building our regional creative & economic resources.

What it reported doing in 2025

Creative Community Engagement: In 2025, we hosted six visiting artists who engaged the 1,100 people of the Cuyama Valley on the priorities and issues Cuyama faces. We discussed water stewardship and resiliency, and we celebrated with food and music. We created art as economic development by employing artists and community creators. We hosted the Cuyama Water Justice Fellowships, funded by a larger California Environmental Protection Agency grant. Rae Garringer created a podcast with Cuyama residents in both English and Spanish about the Valley's water crisis. Documentary filmmakers Alex Brown and Sean Huntley collaborated with the community on The Dry Horizon. Ash Hanson and Alex Barreto Hathaway of PlaceBase Productions led the puppet-filled Celebrate Agua parade, singing and drumming with the River Saint and Thirsty Monster to respect this precious resource for Cuyama. Amplify Artist Al Oard taught students to build music electronics and supported our tenth annual Da de los Muertos Festival. In partnership with PlaceBase Productions and Cuyama Valley Recreation District, we received an Arts in California Parks grant for Resilient Cuyama Drama, a program of free, community-focused theater. We celebrated with the performance of the Cuyama Holidrama play. This year, we brought Yue Nakayama into a new role as Arts Director to build on our decade of Creative Community Engagement work.

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

STRONG - The filed numbers largely add up and a large share of total spending goes to programs. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 66
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 95
  • Sustainability: 61
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 57.6%; rating input score 58
  • Program expense ratio: 74.1%; rating input score 74
  • Fundraising efficiency: $101.6 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 85; 85th 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; 64th 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: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: Pass
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 22.5%; rating input score 75; 75th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.58; rating input score 57; 57th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.07; rating input score 38; 38th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 9%; rating input score 40; 40th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 17.6% per year; rating input score 100; 76th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 6.7% per year; rating input score 100; 47th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 4.3% per year; rating input score 100; 32nd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 57.6% of revenue deployed · 74.1% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 7 of 7 board members independent · 7 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 5 filed program accomplishments · $641K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $78K · 6 people listed
  • Consistency: 29 of 29 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 10 filing years from 2015 to 2025
  • 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 — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 58/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
  • Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 57/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 38/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 40/100.