Cheer Coastal Habitat Education and Environmental Restoration
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 731684508
- IRS 990-EZ coverage
- 2015–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990-EZ 2025, Form 990-N 2014
- Location
- Gilroy, CA, USA
- Phone
- 4084973037
- Rating
- 91
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Environmental Beautification and Aesthetics
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $79,574
- Expenses
- $83,188
- Assets
- $273,013
Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
8 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- HERMAN GARCIA (CEO/E.D.)
- DAVID HAMBLIN (President)
- MICHAEL SANCHEZ (Vice President)
- HERMAN GARCIA (CEO)
People named in this filing
- HERMAN GARCIA (CEO/E.D.)
- Irma Batrez (COO)
- STEVEN J GUERRIERO (Treasurer)
Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.
Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Our mission is to restore coastal ecosystems but do so in a way that safeguards resource-based local economies. CHEER recognizes that varied interests are represented in local economies. It believes that assessing and reconciling these interests so that each group profits by cooperation in restoration efforts is the key to more effective environmental programming.
What it reported doing in 2025
Removed debris from the pajaro river, used watersheds garbage museum for mobile education exhibits for schools, environmental awareness and community stewardship at earth day fair, memorial day parade and coyote creek howl watershet tour. Removed trees with local volunteers and experts to protect dwarf steelhead at uvas creek. Put up "no dumping signs in two languages and will next add surveillance cameras to stop garbage, toxins and pollutnants in pajarao river watershet waterways.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Cannot be determined from the filing. The filing does not provide enough consistent revenue detail to tell how this nonprofit funds its work.
- 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
STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Expenses are high relative to revenue and reported officer compensation is a large share of total spending, which may reflect staffing concentration.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 88
- Transparency & Controls: 100
- Sustainability: 40
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 90.1%; rating input score 90
- Program expense ratio: 86.2%; rating input score 86
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 51st percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -4.5%; rating input score 35; 35th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 3.28; rating input score 76; 76th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: Limited
- Officer compensation ratio: 25%; rating input score 7; 7th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 16% per year; rating input score 100; 78th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 0.6% per year; rating input score 100; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 11.8% per year; rating input score 100; 74th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 90.1% of revenue deployed · 86.2% of spending went to programs
- Governance: Filed governance answers
- Accomplishments: 2 filed program accomplishments · $72K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 8 people listed
- Consistency: 8 of 8 current checks pass
- Schedules: 3 filed schedules
- Filing history: 10 filing years from 2015 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 5 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.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 35/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 7/100.