California Transit Association
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 680222528
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2010–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Sacramento, CA, USA
- Phone
- 9164464656
- Rating
- 69
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $2,123,508
- Expenses
- $2,001,261
- Assets
- $2,437,962
- Liabilities
- $844,234
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
27 people listed
People named in this filing
- ALEX CLIFFORD (DIRECTOR)
- APRIL CHAN (DIRECTOR)
- BILL FAY (DIRECTOR)
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 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Support the needs of California's public transit systems through advocacy and education.
What it reported doing in 2024
Meetings and conferences - to keep members current on issues and pending legislation that relate to public transportation in californiaheld 2024 spring legislative conference to educate our membership on the latest state-level legislative and budgetary developments and the status of the association's advocacy efforts. The conference brought together approximately 150 participants.held 59th annual fall conference & expo in san jose, which provided educational sessions to our membership on the topics of management & leadership, operations, maintenance, community outreach, and policy & innovation; facilitated site visits of major transit projects in san jose; and, facilitated networking between industry stakeholders. The conference serves as the association's annual meeting of members and brought together approximately 180 participants.held executive committee retreat to identify the association's organizational and priorities for the 2023-25 term.convened 5 executive committee meetings to steer the association's advocacy efforts, direct organizational matters, and provide ongoing oversight of the association's functions.convened 4 finance & management committee meetings to provide ongoing fiscal oversight and direct the association's budgetary and work program priorities.convened 20 state legislative committee meetings, 20 federal legislative committee meetings, and ad hoc subcommittee meetings, as necessary, to inform the association's advocacy efforts.convened information exchanges, as necessary, between maintenance and operations transit professionals and small size operators.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Membership-supported. 65% of the money available for current operations came from membership dues.
- 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. A relatively small share of voting board members are independent and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 86
- Transparency & Controls: 90
- Accountability: 12
- Sustainability: 52
- Growth: 60
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 94.2%; rating input score 94
- 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: 0%; rating input score 0; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 2 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 29
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- 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: 5.8%; rating input score 53; 53rd percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.22; rating input score 44; 44th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.35; rating input score 31; 31st percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 91; 91st percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: Limited
- Revenue growth: 3.4% per year; rating input score 100; 30th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 8% per year; rating input score 100; 50th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 94.2% of revenue deployed · 100% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 0 of 25 board members independent · 2 of 7 filing controls reported
- Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $2M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 27 people listed
- Highest-paid contractors: 1 contractor listed · $1.2M reported
- Consistency: 19 of 19 current checks pass
- Schedules: 3 filed schedules
- Filing history: 14 filing years from 2010 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Related organizations: 1 filed related-organization link
- 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: 4 of 6 not reported.
- Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 53/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 44/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 31/100.