Civic Space Foundation
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 881045135
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2023–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025, Form 990-N 2022
- Location
- San Francisco, CA, USA
- Phone
- 4159907178
- Rating
- 78
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Education N.E.C.
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $7,980,381
- Expenses
- $5,748,478
- Assets
- $6,364,748
- Liabilities
- $154,200
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
6 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Emanuel Yekutiel (ED/President)
Highest reported compensation
- Emanuel Yekutiel (ED/President): $187,045 total reported compensation
- Caleb Hilladakis (Managing Director): $174,755 total reported compensation
- Luke Spray (Executive Dir.): $166,613 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Partner and invest in the people, organizations, and projects working to build civic gathering spaces around the country.
What it reported doing in 2025
The Civic Joy Fund started in 2023 as a program of the Civic Space Foundation, with the goal of revitalizing a post-pandemic San Francisco. What began with a little idea to light up commercial corridors around the city has grown into initiatives to paint hundreds of utility boxes, host weekly trash pick-ups, and support small- and large-scale community events. Large scale events include Downtown First Thursdays and neighborhood Night Markets while smaller initiatives include supporting neighborhood Block Parties, creating gathering spaces through Green Streets.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 99% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- Distribution model
- Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 40% for direct work, and 60% for grants.
The verdict
SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 78
- Transparency & Controls: 76
- Accountability: 82
- Sustainability: 61
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 66.6%; rating input score 67
- Program expense ratio: 92.2%; rating input score 92
- Fundraising efficiency: $128.68 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 90; 90th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 92.9%; rating input score 93; 14th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 2 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 33
- Compensation committee: Missing
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
- Written employment contract: Pass
- Compensation survey or study: Missing
- Board or committee approval: Pass
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: 97%; rating input score 97; 38th 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 9 controls in place; rating input score 56
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Fail
- Document-retention policy: Fail
- CEO compensation review process: Fail
- 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: 28%; rating input score 80; 80th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.11; rating input score 37; 37th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.02; rating input score 70; 70th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 9.2%; rating input score 36; 36th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 48.5% per year; rating input score 100; 96th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 41.1% per year; rating input score 100; 96th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 60% per year; rating input score 100; 98th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 66.6% of revenue deployed · 92.2% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 3 of 3 board members independent · 5 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $5.3M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $187K · 6 people listed · 2 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 3 contractors listed · $476K reported
- Consistency: 29 of 30 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
- Filing history: 3 filing years from 2023 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 34 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 31 filed related-organization links
- 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 — Accountability: Governance controls: 4 of 9 not reported.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 37/100.
- Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 36/100.