Blues Babe Foundation

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
550805127
IRS 990 coverage
2023–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2022
Location
Beverly Hills, CA, USA
Phone
3103068897
Rating
48
Verdict
MIXED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Scholarships, Student Financial Aid Services, Awards

Reported finances

Revenue
$396,423
Expenses
$94,645
Assets
$312,611
Liabilities
$0

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

Leadership & pay

2 people listed

Highest reported compensation

  • DANIEL CRAIG (Executive Dir.): $6,000 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

The organization is committed to assisting students in underserved communities by providing opportunities that promote and cultivate a mindset of leadership and academic excellence. The organization's services are geared towards students, ages 9-21 in north philadelphia, pa and camden, nj.

What it reported doing in 2025

Camp jill scott: many children will never explore the world beyond the parameters of their neighborhoods as a result of economic barriers, social/familial/cultural upbringing, and lack of transportation. Camp jill scott ensures that students from all walks of life come to understand the joys of nature. The free one-week day camp for students from philadelphia between the ages of 9 and 14 provides art, music, swimming, rock wall climbing, scavenger hunts, field games and leadership development. The camp also provides summer employment to high school and college students, following peer-to-peer mentoring and skills development training workshops. Approximately 80 youth are served annually through camp jill scott. Clean up your neighborhood: the clean up your neighborhood program provides a communal pride and works to improve the quality of life for students. The program includes community clean-up drives with trash and graffiti removal, the creation of gardens, and litter free training. Our "clean up" partners include keep philadelphia beautiful, communities in school, philadelphia freedom schools, african american united fund, cecil b moore recreation center, and reyburn park neighborwoods. Over 100 volunteers have donated their time to this beatification project. Music in the classrooms: a big part of music is having an opportunity to study and play at an early age. The blues babe foundation teams up with organizations to help provide music (instrumentation, history, theory, recording, production, and business) in north philadelphia elementary schools. In 2011 a pilot of 40 students in the 4th grade at peirce elementary school enjoyed a hands-on music exploration program at their school. College bound workshops: there are many steps between college access and college completion. The foundation offers a series of free workshops to north philadelphia college bound students and parents seeking information. The workshops address financial aid, selecting the right college and major, goal setting, study habits, and preparing for the transition to college life.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 100% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 99% 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

MIXED - The filed numbers largely add up and revenue comfortably covers expenses. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and a relatively small share of voting board members are independent.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 33
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 0
  • Sustainability: 79
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 16.9%; rating input score 17
  • Program expense ratio: 70.7%; rating input score 71
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

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: 0%; rating input score 0; 8th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 0 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 0
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Fail
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 76.1%; rating input score 97; 97th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 3.3; rating input score 71; 71st percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 77; 77th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 6.3%; rating input score 30; 30th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -55.3% per year; rating input score 0; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 13.6% per year; rating input score 100; 78th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 17.4% per year; rating input score 100; 79th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 16.9% of revenue deployed · 70.7% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 0 of 2 board members independent · 0 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $67K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $6K · 2 people listed
  • Consistency: 21 of 21 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 3 filing years from 2023 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.

  • High — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 17/100.
  • High — Accountability: Independent voting board scored 0/100.
  • High — Accountability: Governance controls: 7 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 30/100.