Connect Foundation

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
203049742
IRS 990 coverage
2009–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
San Diego, CA, USA
Phone
8589641300
Rating
78
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Educational Services and Schools - Other

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$3,094,359
Expenses
$3,111,063
Assets
$2,228,305
Liabilities
$906,150

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

Leadership & pay

122 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • MIKE KRENN (CEO)

Highest reported compensation

  • MIKE KRENN (CEO): $215,590 total reported compensation
  • CHRISTIE MARCELLA (COO): $134,118 total reported compensation
  • TRE BRAQUET (INTERIM COO): $108,817 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Connect is an innovation instigator established to cultivate san diego's life science and tech communities. A trusted partner for more than 30 years, we propel our region's entrepreneurs as they create and scale their companies from first-time founders to seasoned executives. We operate across diverse industry verticals with a mindset driven by inclusive social good making a positive impact across the entirety of the mega-region. In elevating entrepreneurial mastery such as providing access to institutional capital, strategic advising, and partnering opportunities we bring together our region's culture and spirit to ignite our innovation economy.

What it reported doing in 2024

Springboard, a business creation and development program in which business advisors providementorship to new technology companies who then present to a panel of industry veterans, investors and service providers; frameworks workshops, half-day, professional development programs structured to provide anoverview of business basics through 'fundamentals': a vocabulary, foundation and 'framework' inwhich business leadership can be built around, and 'advanced workshops': a focused anddetailed look at specialized and industry specific topics customized to fit the needs of a start-upcompany; connect innovation report, a regional quarterly index which tracks the health of the sandiego innovation economy by comparing data year to year and quarter to quarter, providing acomparison across tech industry clusters to selected regions and monitoring availability of varioustypes of capital. The data helps policymakers and trade organizations plan and advocateeffectively for innovation economy including availability of visas and workforce training for talent inhigh growth clusters, building an attractive environment for capital investment, allocation of grantfunding, reform of the patent system and zoning; springboard impact report, provides an overview of the companies that have gone through thespringboard accelerator program since 2005 to follow-up on their development and progress; venture summit, a two-day conference connecting san diego's companies to investors from allover the country. Day 1 focuses on san diego life-science and technology companies in multipletracks, pitching to investors from all over the country. The investors and key players from the sandiego innovation community participate in a networking event focused on building relationshipsand elevating the san diego ecosystem. Day 2 brings in up-and-coming venture capitalists fromall over the country to give educational talks; summer social, an annual gathering of san diego entrepreneurs, innovators, investors, ceos, and service providers getting together to network, make relationships, and celebrate theinnovation community of san diego. The program will resumed in fiscal year 2024; connect sbdc, a program that matches early-stage companies with generalist mentors toanswer questions ranging from ideas, business plans, marketing, and more; vc road trip, during day 2 of the cool companies private event, venture capitalists from allaround the country embark on an outing, typically sailing, and are given a tour of san diego. Thepurpose of the day is to learn about san diego and to grow relationships between out-of-townventure capitalists and the san diego innovation community.

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. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and revenue has declined or grown slowly.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 81
  • Transparency & Controls: 70
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 28
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 86.4%; rating input score 86
  • Program expense ratio: 85.7%; rating input score 86
  • Fundraising efficiency: $11.86 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 43; 43rd percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 1 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 17
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Missing
  • 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; 63rd 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: -0.5%; rating input score 31; 31st percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.72; rating input score 26; 26th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.41; rating input score 26; 26th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 14.7%; rating input score 19; 19th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 1.6% per year; rating input score 100; 20th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -0.2% per year; rating input score 0; 11th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 13% per year; rating input score 100; 69th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 86.4% of revenue deployed · 85.7% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 92 of 92 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $2.7M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $216K · 122 people listed · 1 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 26 of 26 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 16 filing years from 2009 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 3 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.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 43/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 31/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 26/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 19/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 26/100.