Central Valley Journalism Collaborative

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
872960735
IRS 990 coverage
2022–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Fresno, CA, USA
Phone
9169799166
Rating
73
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Public Foundations

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$2,152,435
Expenses
$1,681,793
Assets
$1,969,875
Liabilities
$131,553

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

Leadership & pay

6 people listed

Highest reported compensation

  • Joseph Kieta (Executive Dir.): $151,574 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

We grow local news for and from the Valley to help you live a healthy and informed life. We connect Central Valley communities with the support needed to grow and sustain local journalism.

What it reported doing in 2024

The Central Valley Journalism Collaborative aims to grow, protect and sustain locally produced news in the Central Valley. We do this by funding journalist positions and by producing local, essential, fact-based news stories and distributing these to our newsroom partners in the region. To augment the availability of relevant and accessible local news, we launched our first bilingual newsroom, the Merced FOCUS/EL ENFOQUE Merced. CVJC will continue to advance its goals to grow newsroom jobs and coverage capacity; increase diversity of leadership and reporting workforce to reflect the community; engage the next generation of consumers and stakeholders; support local journalism ecosystem innovation; and expand philanthropic investment in the Central Valley.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 99% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 94% 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 total spending goes to programs and the filed numbers largely add up. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and few specific pay-setting methods are documented in the filing; unanswered boxes are not proof of absence.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 66
  • Transparency & Controls: 71
  • Accountability: 84
  • Sustainability: 61
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 58.7%; rating input score 59
  • Program expense ratio: 74.5%; rating input score 75
  • Fundraising efficiency: $32.12 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 70; 70th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 0 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 0
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Missing
  • 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: 5 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 62
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Fail
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 21.9%; rating input score 78; 78th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.17; rating input score 42; 42nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.07; rating input score 66; 66th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 9%; rating input score 33; 33rd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 1.2% per year; rating input score 100; 18th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 26.2% per year; rating input score 100; 92nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 14.7% per year; rating input score 100; 73rd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 58.7% of revenue deployed · 74.5% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 4 of 4 board members independent · 5 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $1.3M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $152K · 6 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 30 of 30 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 3 filing years from 2022 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
  • 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 — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 59/100.
  • High — Transparency & Controls: Pay-setting controls scored 0/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 8 not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 42/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 33/100.