California YIMBY Education Fund

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
851438188
IRS 990 coverage
2021–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024, Form 990-N 2020
Location
Sacramento, CA, USA
Phone
9732898375
Rating
81
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Housing Development, Construction, Management

Reported finances

Revenue
$1,628,879
Expenses
$3,047,162
Assets
$5,590,157
Liabilities
$425,878

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

Leadership & pay

12 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Brian Hanlon (President)
  • Melissa Breach (Senior Vice President and COO)
  • John Gamboa (President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Brian Hanlon (President): $474,209 total reported compensation
  • Melissa Breach (Senior Vice President and COO): $191,538 total reported compensation
  • Matthew M Lewis (Director of Communications): $177,954 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 YIMBY Education Fund's mission is to ensure that California is an affordable place to live, work, and raise a family. We advance our misson by: a.) Produce original research and commission reports to inform evidence based policy b.) Provide educational opportunities and resources to the public, elected officials, and our YIMBY alliesc.) Train and support local leaders to advocate for housing reforms that serve their communities; and d.) Shape the housing narrative in California and nationally.

What it reported doing in 2024

EducationThe California YIMBY Education Fund hosted educational events like the New Cities Retreat, which explores the potential and challenges of building new cities as a solution to Californias housing crisis. The event underscored the need for additional research and policy reform to ensure new city projects can effectively address the states housing shortage. Additionally, we also hosted a table at the LA Sentinels annual Taste of Soul event in Los Angeles. CAY team members attended multiple speaking engagements such as panel discussions and podcasts.Two major reports were released in 2024: The Impact of Fees: Rethinking Local Revenues for More Multifamily Housing and California ADU Reform: A Retrospective.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 89% 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

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Expenses are high relative to revenue and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 93
  • Transparency & Controls: 70
  • Accountability: 90
  • Sustainability: 31
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 93%; rating input score 93
  • Fundraising efficiency: $23.1 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 62; 62nd 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: 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; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 6 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 75
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • 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: -87.1%; rating input score 1; 1st percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.83; rating input score 62; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.08; rating input score 46; 46th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 4%; rating input score 55; 55th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 50.2% per year; rating input score 100; 96th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -18.8% per year; rating input score 0; 1st percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 12.3% per year; rating input score 100; 66th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 93% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 5 of 5 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $2.8M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $474K · 12 people listed · 1 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 23 of 23 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 4 filing years from 2021 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: Resolved incoming and outgoing counterparties from filed money flows.
  • 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 — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 1/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 8 not reported.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 46/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 55/100.