California School of the Arts San Gabriel Valley

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
813919990
IRS 990 coverage
2016–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Duarte, CA, USA
Phone
6573214000
Rating
79
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Primary, Elementary Schools

Reported finances

Revenue
$20,318,241
Expenses
$20,644,041
Assets
$8,763,772
Liabilities
$9,723,149

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

Leadership & pay

12 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • GENEVIEVE SPINELLA (PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • STEPHEN COOK (PRINCIPAL OF ARTS): $257,608 total reported compensation
  • NICOLE READ (PRINCIPAL OF ACADEMICS): $231,597 total reported compensation
  • MERVYN LEON METOYER (ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL): $231,477 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

To provide an unparalleled arts and academic education in a creative, challenging, and nurturing environment to a diverse student body passionate about the arts and to prepare them to reach their highest potential.

What it reported doing in 2024

A public charter school that provides a creative, challenging and nurturing environment offering bright and talented students a rigorous college preparatory education and pre-professional arts conservatory training (grades 9-12). The school's unique culture and innovative curriculum allows its students to grow and thrive as artist scholars and to develop their confidence and talents. Small student/teacher ratios in academic and arts classes allow for personalized attention. Csarts - sgv students receive opportunities to participate in master classes, guest artist presentations, field trips, and performances, as well as a variety of campus clubs and activities. During the school year 2024 - 2025, the school served approximately 974 students.

Operating model

Revenue model
Grant-funded. 79% of the money available for current operations came from government grants.
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 - 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: 88
  • Transparency & Controls: 70
  • Accountability: 84
  • Sustainability: 21
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 87.2%; rating input score 87
  • Program expense ratio: 85.8%; rating input score 86
  • Fundraising efficiency: $3,135.32 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 98; 98th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 1 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 17
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • 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; 66th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 5 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 62
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -1.6%; rating input score 25; 25th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.42; rating input score 12; 12th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 1.11; rating input score 4; 4th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 6.2%; rating input score 41; 41st percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 17.6% per year; rating input score 100; 87th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 17.3% per year; rating input score 100; 89th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 7.4% per year; rating input score 100; 51st percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 87.2% of revenue deployed · 85.8% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 5 of 5 board members independent · 5 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $17.7M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $258K · 12 people listed · 1 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 1 contractor listed · $728K reported
  • Consistency: 33 of 33 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 9 filing years from 2016 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 6 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 4 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: 3 of 8 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 25/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 12/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 4/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 41/100.