Challenge Day
Legal name: Challenge Day Fund
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 943386810
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2009–2023
- Official website data refreshed
- Jul 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2023
- Location
- San Francisco, CA, US
- Phone
- 1.510.767.0355
- Rating
- 75
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Parent/Teacher Group
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $179,757
- Expenses
- $136,114
- Assets
- $-4,706
- Liabilities
- $438,654
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2023. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
12 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- David Herron (President)
- Peter Sandhill (Vice President)
Highest reported compensation
- Ana Rubio (Executive Dir.): $96,857 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2023. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Challenge Day is a daylong experiential workshop for 7th-12th graders. Participants experience powerful love and belonging, connect across lines of difference and move toward creating the culture they want in their school.
What it reported doing in 2023
During this fiscal year, the Challenge Day Fund proudly supported seventeen programs delivered by Toward the Real, LLC dba Challenge Day. These impactful programs reached eleven schools across the United States, positively influencing the lives of more than 2,500 teenagers.Challenge Day programs are immersive, experiential workshops designed to transform school and community climates. Through engaging and emotionally resonant activities, these programs aim to: Foster empathy and cross-cultural understanding, Strengthen peer and adult relationships, Reduce bullying and social isolation, and Positively influence student achievement and overall well-being.Challenge Day's innovative approach has received national recognition. The program has been featured on The Oprah Winfrey Show, spotlighted in Tom Brokaws 2010 documentary Bridging the Divide, and served as the foundation for the MTV reality series If You Really Knew Me, which aired for 12 episodes.Since its inception in 1987 by founders Yvonne and Rich Dutra-St. John, Challenge Day has reached over one million students in more than 2,200 schools worldwide. The program serves youth across all gender identities, races, ethnicities, sexual orientations, religious backgrounds, and socioeconomic levels. To date, Challenge Day has been implemented in 49 U.S. states and has expanded internationally to countries including Canada, Japan, the Czech Republic, Germany, Australia, Belgium, and Uganda.Thanks to the support of the Challenge Day Fund, this year alone thousands more youth have been empowered to build stronger, more compassionate communitiesone school at a time.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The filing allocates 100% 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. Program spending has declined or grown slowly and revenue has declined or grown slowly.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 74
- Transparency & Controls: 92
- Accountability: 79
- Sustainability: 37
- Growth: 0
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 65.1%; rating input score 65
- Program expense ratio: 85.9%; rating input score 86
- Fundraising efficiency: $86 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 84; 84th 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: Limited
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 81.8%; rating input score 82; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 6 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 75
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Other executive compensation review process: Pass
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Missing
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 24.3%; rating input score 79; 79th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: -0.03; rating input score 0; 0th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: Limited
- Officer compensation ratio: 71.2%; rating input score 1; 1st percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: -11.3% per year; rating input score 0; 10th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: -8.2% per year; rating input score 0; 8th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: -8.3% per year; rating input score 0; 8th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 3 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 5 operating locations identified
- Where the money goes: 65.1% of revenue deployed · 85.9% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 9 of 11 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $117K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $97K · 12 people listed
- Consistency: 23 of 23 current checks pass
- Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 15 filing years from 2009 to 2023
- 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.
Key Signals
Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.
- High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
- High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 0/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
- High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 1/100.