California Calls Education Fund

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
462301623
IRS 990 coverage
2015–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-N 2014
Location
Los Angeles, CA, USA
Phone
3237359515
Rating
83
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Voter Education, Registration

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$8,859,108
Expenses
$7,833,037
Assets
$27,249,345
Liabilities
$835,071

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

Leadership & pay

20 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • ANTHONY THIGPENN (PRESIDENT)
  • SABRINA A SMITH (CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER)

Highest reported compensation

  • ANTHONY THIGPENN (PRESIDENT): $183,200 total reported compensation
  • SABRINA A SMITH (CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER): $173,406 total reported compensation
  • MALCOM A UNO (MILLION VOTERS PROJECT DIRECTOR): $159,604 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

California calls education fund (ccef) is an alliance of community-based organizations from across the state of California. Ccef educates and engages communities of color and working-class neighbordhoods about public policy. Communities are engaged to participate in policy solutions addressing poverty and community needs.

What it reported doing in 2024

Budget power project (bpp) - bbp is an initiative of the California budget & policy center, catalyst California (formerly advancement project California), and the mvp to build the capacity of local organizations to center community residents in local budget decisions. Bpp provides funding technical assistance, budget and organizing training to empower advocates engaging in state and local budget and policy debates.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 88% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 55% for direct work, and 45% for grants.

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: 84
  • Transparency & Controls: 75
  • Accountability: 91
  • Sustainability: 65
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 81.7%; rating input score 82
  • Program expense ratio: 89.8%; rating input score 90
  • Fundraising efficiency: $43.83 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 76; 76th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 1 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 17
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Missing
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 99.9%; rating input score 100; 41st percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 93.3%; rating input score 93; 24th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 7 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 88
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • 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: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 11.6%; rating input score 65; 65th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 3.48; rating input score 77; 77th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.03; rating input score 76; 76th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 11.8%; rating input score 25; 25th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 11.3% per year; rating input score 100; 68th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 11% per year; rating input score 100; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 25.4% per year; rating input score 100; 90th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 81.7% of revenue deployed · 89.8% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 14 of 15 board members independent · 7 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $7M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $183K · 20 people listed · 1 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 33 of 33 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 9 filing years from 2015 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 41 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 36 filed related-organization links
  • 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: Conflict-of-interest policy not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 25/100.