Canvass for a Cause

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
272066736
IRS 990 coverage
2015–2016
Forms available
Form 990 2016
Location
San Diego, CA, USA
Phone
6198550729
Rating
69
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Lesbian, Gay Rights

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$45,173
Expenses
$22,998
Assets
$7,048
Liabilities
$0

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2016. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

4 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • SONJA ANDERSON (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)

People named in this filing

  • ELIZABETH LEVENTHAL (BOARD MEMBER)
  • SHAFER GRUBB (BOARD CHAIRMAN)
  • RACHEL SCOMA (BOARD MEMBER)

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 2016. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

To build grass roots support for a variety of progressive causes through education and public outreach and to create self sustaining programs and work opportunities for staff and volunteers

What it reported doing in 2016

Canvass for a cause successfully runs one of the largest public education and grassroots public persuasion efforts in san diego in an effort to build support for the lgbt progressive movement cfac focuses redominantly on education the public persuading non supporters recruting volunteers and identifying support for key progressive human rights issues

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 100% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 92% 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 - 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 some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 59
  • Transparency & Controls: 90
  • Accountability: 70
  • Sustainability: 62
  • Growth: 20

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 41.4%; rating input score 41
  • Program expense ratio: 81.3%; rating input score 81
  • Fundraising efficiency: $42.06 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 81; 81st percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd 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: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th 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: 49.1%; rating input score 91; 91st percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.31; rating input score 13; 13th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 72; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 62; 62nd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -130.5% per year; rating input score 0; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -100.7% per year; rating input score 0; 4th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 176.4% per year; rating input score 100; 100th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 41.4% of revenue deployed · 81.3% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 4 of 4 board members independent · 2 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 4 people listed
  • Consistency: 19 of 19 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 1 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 2 filing years from 2015 to 2016
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • 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.

Grant-readiness screening is separate from the live rating, not a measure of program quality. Review the source records before making a grant decision.

  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 41/100.
  • High — Accountability: Governance controls: 4 of 6 not reported.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 13/100.
  • High — Grant Readiness: Automatic revocation: this organization had its federal tax-exempt status automatically revoked.