California Association of Veteran Service Agencies

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
830405426
IRS 990 coverage
2017–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2023, Form 990-N 2015
Location
Sacramento, CA, USA
Phone
9164499686
Rating
63
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Nonprofit Management

Reported finances

Revenue
$783,500
Expenses
$500,089
Assets
$560,471
Liabilities
$0

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

Leadership & pay

6 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Akilah Templeton (Vice President)
  • Michael Blecker (President)

People named in this filing

  • Charles Helget (Executive Dir.)
  • Akilah Templeton (Vice President)
  • Chris Flaherty (Secretary)

Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.

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

Overview

Mission

CAVSA's mission is to address and promote the employment, training, education, housing, medical, and business development needs of veterans and their families. CAVSA is dedicated to ensuring that veterans of all eras have the understanding, tools, and support from their communities to provide for a successful transition back home. We advocate for reform at the state, local, and national level to increase access to care, and imporve services for all veterans and their families.

What it reported doing in 2025

In 2025, CAVSA and its member organizations engaged in the legislative and budgetary process to advance policies that reduce financial burden, expand educational access, strengthen consumer protections for veterans and address the intersecting challenges of housing instability and behavioral health needs.CAVSA and the member agencies were actively engaged in implementing the CA Veterans Health Initiative (CVHI) and the Veterans Support to Self-Reliance (VSSR) programs. These programs provide $70 M over a 3 year span supporting aging veterans, efforts to reduce veteran suicide and expand access to free outpatient mental services.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 93% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
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

SUPPORTED - The filed numbers largely add up and a large share of available resources goes toward mission work. A relatively small share of voting board members are independent and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 65
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 6
  • Sustainability: 73
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 59.8%; rating input score 60
  • Program expense ratio: 93.8%; rating input score 94
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

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: 0%; rating input score 0; 6th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 1 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 14
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 36.2%; rating input score 85; 85th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.12; rating input score 46; 46th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 88; 88th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 78; 78th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 34% per year; rating input score 100; 90th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 3.8% per year; rating input score 100; 30th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 11.2% per year; rating input score 100; 59th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 59.8% of revenue deployed · 93.8% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 0 of 6 board members independent · 1 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $469K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 6 people listed
  • Consistency: 14 of 14 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 6 filing years from 2017 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • 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 — Accountability: Independent voting board scored 0/100.
  • High — Accountability: Governance controls: 5 of 6 not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 46/100.