Cancer Support Community Greater San Gabriel Valley

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
954201985
IRS 990 coverage
2014–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Sierra Madre, CA, USA
Phone
6267961083
Rating
77
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$2,530,151
Expenses
$1,883,311
Assets
$9,151,357
Liabilities
$2,064,804

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

20 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Patricia Ostiller (Chief Executive Officer)
  • Steve Ralph (DIRECTOR, Vice President)
  • Serge Melkizian (Director, President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Patricia Ostiller (Chief Executive Officer): $179,191 total reported compensation
  • RACHIMAH MAGNUSON (Director of Events): $117,511 total reported compensation
  • Chastity T Diego (Director of Operations): $113,938 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Cancer support community uplifts and strengthens people impacted by cancer by providing support, fostering compassionate communities, and breaking down barriers to care.

What it reported doing in 2025

Educational workshops are presented each month that provide a broad range of information to people impacted by cancer such as treatment methods for various types of cancer, pain management, alternative types of treatment, reconstruction surgery technique, nutrition, legal steps to take upon diagnosis, financial challenges of cancer, navigating the medical system. A variety of healthy lifestyle classes are also scheduled each week including yoga, meditation, Feldenkrais, strength training, mindfulness, Tai Chi and Qi Gong to promote healthy life styles and help strengthen immune systems among participants. In 2025, workshops were also offered to help residents process trauma and rebuild their emotional well-being in response to the Eaton Fire. In 2025, we served 684 unique participants across 649 sessions of educational workshops.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 90% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 93% 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

SUPPORTED - The filed numbers largely add up and most voting board members are independent. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 59
  • Transparency & Controls: 87
  • Accountability: 95
  • Sustainability: 65
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 56.1%; rating input score 56
  • Program expense ratio: 72.9%; rating input score 73
  • Fundraising efficiency: $10.22 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 36; 36th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd 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: 100%; rating input score 100; 75th percentile among comparable filings
  • 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: 7 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 88
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 25.6%; rating input score 78; 78th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 4.86; rating input score 80; 80th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.23; rating input score 33; 33rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 27.7%; rating input score 9; 9th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 7.7% per year; rating input score 100; 50th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 10% per year; rating input score 100; 66th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 21.6% per year; rating input score 100; 86th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 56.1% of revenue deployed · 72.9% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 16 of 16 board members independent · 7 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $1.4M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $179K · 20 people listed · 4 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 1 contractor listed · $117K reported
  • Consistency: 38 of 38 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 11 filing years from 2014 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 9 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.

  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 56/100.
  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 36/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Form 990 shared with the board not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 9/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 33/100.