CommUnify

Legal name: Community Action Commission of Santa Barbara County Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
952491790
IRS 990 coverage
2015–2024
Official website data refreshed
Sep 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Santa Barbara, CA, US
Phone
(800) 655-0617
Rating
77
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Human Service Organizations

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$27,531,130
Expenses
$27,784,983
Assets
$13,397,016
Liabilities
$11,578,961

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

Leadership & pay

22 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • PATRICIA D KEELEAN (CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER)

Highest reported compensation

  • PATRICIA D KEELEAN (CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER): $199,672 total reported compensation
  • MONICA LOGAN (CHIEF OPERATIONS OFFICER): $185,552 total reported compensation
  • JULIE A WEINER (CHIEF DEVELOPMENT OFFICER): $160,641 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Cac serves santa barbara county's vulnerable populations through education and coordinated services so they may achieve economic stability, improve overall well-being and thrive.

What it reported doing in 2024

Children's services provide head start and early head start programs that offer comprehensive early childhood education, health, nutrition and parent involvement services to low-income children and families. Full and part-day early care and education are provided for children up to age five in 24 sites throughout santa barbara county with a goal of preparing our most vulnerable young children to succeed in school and in life beyond school. In addition, both programs are designed to assist families in meeting their own personal goals and achieving self-sufficiency across a wide variety of domains, such as housing, continued education, and financial security. The head start program delivers services to children and families by focusing on the areas of early learning, health, and family well-being while engaging parents as partners every step of the way. California state preschool and child development programs are also offered and blended with head start services. The early head start program promotes the physical, cognitive, social, and emotional development of infants and toddlers through safe and developmentally enriching caregiving. The program is designed to support parents, both mothers and fathers, in their role as primary caregivers and teachers of their children. In 2024, 878 infants, toddlers, and preschoolers were provided with high quality early care and education ("ece") and health services.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 95% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
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.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - 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: 77
  • Transparency & Controls: 70
  • Accountability: 95
  • Sustainability: 25
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 85.8%; rating input score 86
  • Program expense ratio: 85.2%; rating input score 85
  • Fundraising efficiency: $2.36 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 8; 8th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 1 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 17
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 66th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 8 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 89
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • 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: -0.9%; rating input score 27; 27th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.48; rating input score 15; 15th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.86; rating input score 11; 11th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 4.1%; rating input score 59; 59th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 1.4% per year; rating input score 100; 16th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 1.5% per year; rating input score 100; 15th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 13.2% per year; rating input score 100; 76th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 13 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
  • Where the money goes: 85.8% of revenue deployed · 85.2% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 15 of 15 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $23.7M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $200K · 22 people listed · 1 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $2M reported
  • Consistency: 38 of 38 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 9 filing years from 2015 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 9 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.

  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 8/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 27/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 15/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Other executive compensation review process not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 11/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 59/100.