Chinese for Affirmative Action

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
942161304
IRS 990 coverage
2012–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
San Francisco, CA, USA
Phone
4152746750
Rating
85
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Minority Rights

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$20,815,678
Expenses
$20,073,256
Assets
$54,838,057
Liabilities
$2,874,770

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

19 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Vincent Pan (Co-Executive Director)
  • Cynthia Choi (Co-Executive Director)

Highest reported compensation

  • Vincent Pan (Co-Executive Director): $237,855 total reported compensation
  • Cynthia Choi (Co-Executive Director): $235,152 total reported compensation
  • John Fong (Managing Dir. of Finance): $200,589 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

CAA is a community-based organization that conducts community service, policy advocacy, and coalition building activities.

What it reported doing in 2025

Other Programs: Through AACRE, CAA continues to support and contribute to a broader nonprofit sector in multiple ways. In addition to HIP, CAA is the fiscal sponsor for nine additional groups: The Alliance of South Asians Taking Action; APEX Express; Asian Prisoner Support Committee; Asian Refugees United; Hyphen magazine; Lavender Phoenix; The Network on Religion and Justice; VietUnity; & The Visibility Project. Together with CAA, these groups share administrative resources while exploring and deepening the connections that our collective members, volunteers, and staff have with one another.

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 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.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

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: 84
  • Transparency & Controls: 80
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 50
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 90.3%; rating input score 90
  • Program expense ratio: 85.9%; rating input score 86
  • Fundraising efficiency: $17.81 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 51; 51st percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 94.7%; rating input score 95; 27th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 92.8%; rating input score 93; 30th 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; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 9 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 100
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: Pass
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 3.6%; rating input score 39; 39th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.73; rating input score 63; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.05; rating input score 76; 76th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 8%; rating input score 36; 36th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 19.4% per year; rating input score 100; 87th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 18.7% per year; rating input score 100; 91st percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 24.8% per year; rating input score 100; 94th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 90.3% of revenue deployed · 85.9% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 11 of 11 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $17.2M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $238K · 19 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $2.1M reported
  • Consistency: 40 of 41 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 9 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 12 filing years from 2012 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 12 filed money-flow records
  • 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.
  • 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 51/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 39/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 36/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.