California Crop Improvement Association Seed Certification Center Uc Davis

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
941020360
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Davis, CA, USA
Phone
5307520544
Rating
87
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate

Reported finances

Revenue
$1,571,706
Expenses
$1,465,998
Assets
$2,949,902
Liabilities
$783,747

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

Leadership & pay

21 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Timothy Blank (President)
  • Katy Soden (President)
  • Kurt Rubin (Past President)
  • John Ellis (President)
  • Brice Lauppe (Vice President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Timothy Blank (President): $140,136 total reported compensation
  • Katy Soden (President): $137,184 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Seed improvement and inspection.

What it reported doing in 2025

Seed inspection and certification for growers who must have high quality seed to sell to customers.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 79% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
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 expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 89
  • Transparency & Controls: 90
  • Accountability: 84
  • Sustainability: 47
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 100%; rating input score 100
  • 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: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 5 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 62
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • 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: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 6.7%; rating input score 49; 49th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.01; rating input score 65; 65th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.27; rating input score 21; 21st percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 18.9%; rating input score 18; 18th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 0.3% per year; rating input score 100; 16th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 0.3% per year; rating input score 100; 12th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 1.2% per year; rating input score 100; 19th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 100% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 18 of 18 board members independent · 5 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $1.5M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $140K · 21 people listed
  • Consistency: 22 of 22 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 2 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 16 filing years from 2010 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
  • 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: 3 of 8 not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 49/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 18/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 21/100.