Center for Living and Learning

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
954406897
IRS 990 coverage
2012–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Van Nuys, CA, USA
Phone
8184420915
Rating
90
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Employment Procurement Assistance

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$4,903,879
Expenses
$4,753,926
Assets
$4,416,884
Liabilities
$1,336,911

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

5 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • JOSH SMITH (PRESIDENT/DI)

Highest reported compensation

  • MARIA ALEXANDER (EXECUTIVE DI): $138,638 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

The mission of center for living and learning is to improve lives by assisting individuals transitioning from treatment, incarceration, homelessness and other disadvantaged populations to obtain employment or self sufficiency through job training, job readiness and case management services. Center for living and learning envisions a community where every vulnerable neighbor who wishes to be self-supporting is given the opportunity.

What it reported doing in 2024

1.apprenticeship program: apprentices in this program carry out the daily office functions of cll, including staffing a social enterprise call center. The program serves unemployed low-income trainees and those transitioning from treatment and/or incarceration through a transitional subsidized employment training program. Services include intensive support and role modeling, individualized attention related to setting boundaries, resolving personal challenges, handling anger and stress, maintaining recovery and managing finances. Support is provided by our team of peer mentors - all of whom are former clients - who have themselves surmounted significant personal barriers to become self-sufficient. Apprentices receive transportation and clothing assistance, referrals to legal assistance for assistance with expungement of records and wage garnishment reductions, and referrals to housing and counseling services. Skills obtained include customer service, program service delivery, office, and management skills. Key outcomes of the apprenticeship program include: -57 paid apprentices were provided with up to 300 hours of paid work experience. -39 apprentices were placed into unsubsidized employment exceeding contract goals of 50% placement rates. Cll provided the above services as a funded partner this year through the la: rise program with redf and the city of los angeles economic and workforce development department to increase case management services for participants in the paid training program. A.all about you live answering service: this social enterprise call center is operated by apprentices and provides business and call center services to paying customers. Apprentices perform live call answering and virtual receptionist services to small companies, startups, individual owners, nonprofits, and downsizing companies. Apprentices are trained in customer service, data entry, microsoft office, clerical, and general office; those with high-performance skills are additionally trained in management and software programming. As part of the cars4jobs car donation program, apprentices complete donor files, coordinate the pickup of donated vehicles, process title paperwork, and enter invoices upon sale of the vehicle.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 96% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 88% 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

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 expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 88
  • Transparency & Controls: 94
  • Accountability: 95
  • Sustainability: 43
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 89.9%; rating input score 90
  • Program expense ratio: 94.3%; rating input score 94
  • Fundraising efficiency: $20 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 59; 59th 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: 100%; rating input score 100; 72nd 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: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 3.1%; rating input score 45; 45th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.93; rating input score 34; 34th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.3; rating input score 34; 34th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 2.9%; rating input score 69; 69th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 21.8% per year; rating input score 100; 87th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 22.2% per year; rating input score 100; 90th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 20% per year; rating input score 100; 84th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 89.9% of revenue deployed · 94.3% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 4 of 4 board members independent · 7 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $4.5M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $139K · 5 people listed
  • Consistency: 32 of 32 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
  • Filing history: 13 filing years from 2012 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • 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: Fundraising efficiency scored 59/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 45/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Other executive compensation review process not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 34/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 34/100.