Camp Unalayee Association
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 941422951
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2010–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025
- Location
- Palo Alto, CA, USA
- Phone
- 6509696313
- Rating
- 83
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Camps
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $811,702
- Expenses
- $790,896
- Assets
- $968,177
- Liabilities
- $31,844
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
15 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Donja Blokker Dalquist (Vice President)
- Sarah Davis (President)
- Ned Harwood (Vice President)
Highest reported compensation
- Martha Stryker (Executive Dir.): $92,000 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Camp unalayee is a wilderness camp that provides diverse young people with transformational experiences and a place they can always call home. Our programs offer a balance of independence and responsibility that encourages young people to discover their identity, while developing self-confidence, a habit of stewardship and deep respect for their community and the natural world.
What it reported doing in 2025
Camp Unalayee has been taking kids on outdoor adventures since 1949. Located in Northern Californias Trinity Alps, we are a non-profit, wilderness summer camp that provides meaningful outdoor experiences for children ages 10-17. Whether boating, backpacking, making crafts or learning leadership skills, campers learn how to safely enjoy a remarkably beautiful wilderness setting.As a non-profit, Unalayee takes great pride in welcoming children from all walks of life. Unalayee provides financial assistance to many of its campers, allowing kids from all income levels to have a wilderness summer camp experience. Our program actively teaches campers confidence, compassion, community and conservation.As a wilderness summer camp, Unalayee is proud to have introduced thousands of kids to backcountry living while maintaining an impeccable safety record. Kids in our summer camp programs learn about themselves as they learn to live in the wilderness. The rugged terrain of the Trinity Alps provides a challenging and dramatic backdrop for wilderness adventure. In 2025, we served 269 campers. 45% of our campers were given financial assistance to participate in our programs.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
- 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. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 80
- Transparency & Controls: 92
- Accountability: 80
- Sustainability: 42
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 82.7%; rating input score 83
- Program expense ratio: 83.7%; rating input score 84
- Fundraising efficiency: $21.28 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 57; 57th percentile among comparable filings
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: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 91.7%; rating input score 92; 27th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 5 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 62
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- 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: Missing
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 2.6%; rating input score 38; 38th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.22; rating input score 49; 49th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.03; rating input score 48; 48th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 11.6%; rating input score 33; 33rd percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 6.7% per year; rating input score 100; 44th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 4.7% per year; rating input score 100; 36th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 9.1% per year; rating input score 100; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 82.7% of revenue deployed · 83.7% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 11 of 12 board members independent · 5 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $662K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $92K · 15 people listed
- Consistency: 24 of 24 current checks pass
- Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 13 filing years from 2010 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
- Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
- 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: 2 of 7 not reported.
- Review — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 57/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 38/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 49/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 33/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 48/100.