CalMatters
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 472474086
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2015–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025, Form 990-T 2023
- Location
- Sacramento, CA, USA
- Phone
- 9165029986
- Rating
- 83
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Voter Education, Registration
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $18,265,991
- Expenses
- $16,378,582
- Assets
- $9,515,319
- Liabilities
- $1,578,784
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
23 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Neil Chase (CEO)
Highest reported compensation
- Neil Chase (CEO): $394,792 total reported compensation
- Kristen Go Gipner (Editor in Chief): $381,033 total reported compensation
- Sisi Wei (Chief Impact Offic): $321,915 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Our team of experienced journalists, with the time and resources to dig deep, is committed to meaningfully informing Californians about the players, politics, and interests that shape the issues that affect their lives.
What it reported doing in 2025
Editorial/Reporting: CalMatters was founded in 2015 as a nonprofit, nonpartisan journalism venture focused on California politics and policy. Our target audience is civically engaged Californians, including voters and those who might be motivated to vote, along with civic leaders, state legislators and their staffs, lobbyists, academics and activists. Our mission is to fill the void in state government coverage caused by the decline of traditional journalism organizations and to improve Californias democracy by increasing government transparency, holding politicians accountable, and empowering Californians to participate meaningfully in their own governance. We do that by informing and engaging Californians about state government and public policy that affects their lives, with a focus on education, environment, economy, health and the
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 92% 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.
- Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.
The verdict
STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 77
- Transparency & Controls: 84
- Accountability: 100
- Sustainability: 41
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 78.9%; rating input score 79
- Program expense ratio: 87.8%; rating input score 88
- Fundraising efficiency: $11.2 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 36; 36th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 4 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 67
- Compensation committee: Pass
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
- Written employment contract: Missing
- Compensation survey or study: Pass
- 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; 64th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 9 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 100
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: Pass
- Other executive compensation review process: Pass
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 10.3%; rating input score 59; 59th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.58; rating input score 15; 15th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.17; rating input score 56; 56th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 12%; rating input score 18; 18th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 24.5% per year; rating input score 100; 91st percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 22% per year; rating input score 100; 93rd percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 20.2% per year; rating input score 100; 90th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 78.9% of revenue deployed · 87.8% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 16 of 16 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $14.4M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $395K · 23 people listed · 4 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 3 contractors listed · $721K reported
- Consistency: 31 of 32 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
- Filing history: 10 filing years from 2015 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 7 filed money-flow records
- 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.
- Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.
Key Signals
Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.
- Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 36/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 15/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 59/100.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 18/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 56/100.