Carmel Ideas Foundation
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 010903800
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2014–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Pebble Beach, CA, USA
- Phone
- 8316266243
- Rating
- 78
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Performing Arts Organizations
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $454,629
- Expenses
- $535,658
- Assets
- $34,596
- Liabilities
- $22,979
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
5 people listed
People named in this filing
- SCOTT EVERS (BOARD MEMBER)
- JOHN HANNA (BOARD MEMBER)
- DAN LINDSAY (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 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
The Carmel Ideas Foundation's mission is to improve literacy, inspire hope, and encourage the development and exchange of great ideas for the residents of Monterey County and beyond, and to provide further educational opportunities for the under-served students of Monterey County.
What it reported doing in 2024
The organization presents the annual Pebble Beach Authors & Ideas Festival, formerly the Carmel Authors and Ideas Festival, at the end of September each year. More than twenty well known authors, thinkers, innovators and musicians present in a variety of venues over a three-day weekend. Presentations take place in a theater seating all attendees, as well as in small breakout groups. Scholarships are provided to educators each year. Speakers are introduced by students. The three-day Festival is preceded by the Student Ideas Festival, which enables 1300 Monterey County middle and high school students to be inspired in person by some of the best minds of our time. Additionally, the Student Ideas Festival is live-streamed to schools throughout the County, as well as recorded and distributed for later use in the classroom.The goal of the organization is to provide intellectually stimulating settings and opportunities for participation of all ages to learn, discuss, and generate new ideas while honoring a literary past and growing a literary future.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 87% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The filing allocates 99% 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 - 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 revenue has declined or grown slowly.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 86
- Transparency & Controls: 92
- Accountability: 64
- Sustainability: 18
- Growth: 40
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
- Program expense ratio: 91%; rating input score 91
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th 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: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 1 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 14
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
- 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: -17.8%; rating input score 15; 15th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.06; rating input score 5; 5th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.66; rating input score 8; 8th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 69; 69th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 1.2% per year; rating input score 100; 36th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: -0.9% per year; rating input score 0; 20th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: -3.3% per year; rating input score 0; 14th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 91% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 5 of 5 board members independent · 1 of 7 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $487K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 5 people listed
- Consistency: 24 of 24 current checks pass
- Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 11 filing years from 2014 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: Resolved incoming and outgoing counterparties from filed money flows.
- 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.
- High — Accountability: Governance controls: 5 of 6 not reported.
- High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 15/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 5/100.
- High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 8/100.