Constitutional Rights Foundation of Orange County

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
330068500
IRS 990 coverage
2013–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Newport Beach, CA, USA
Phone
9496790730
Rating
79
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Civil Liberties

Reported finances

Revenue
$375,622
Expenses
$407,629
Assets
$479,611
Liabilities
$209,169

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

Leadership & pay

48 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • HANS VAN LIGTEN (VICE PRESIDENT)
  • CATHY T MOSES (PRESIDENT)
  • MATTHEW S BUTTACAVOLI (PAST PRESIDENT)
  • SHARA BERAL WITKIN (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)

Highest reported compensation

  • SHARA BERAL WITKIN (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $69,792 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

The constitutional rights foundation, orange county (crf-oc) is a non-profit, non-partisan education organization dedicated to empowering orange county youth to be active, responsible citizens through participation in high-quality, interactive civic and law related education programs that connect students directly with professionals and community leaders. Our programs have been making a positive difference in the lives of orange county teens for 40 years.

What it reported doing in 2024

Law day conference annually brings together several hundred high school students, judges, attorneys, and teachers on the campus of chapman university's fowler school of law to discuss and debate topical legal and social issues of relevance to the student demographic. Workshops are moderated by leading experts in relevant fields and provide a lively, engaging forum in which students are encouraged to discuss and debate legal and policy issues. Constitution day complies with federal and state government mandates requiring educational institutions accepting public funds to celebrate constitution day. Crf-oc provides and outreach program placing volunteer judges and attorneys in 8th and 12th grade classrooms across orange county for interactive presentations. Orange county career forum annually connects nearly 1,000 high school students with a wide diversity of professionals and community leaders. Students from across orange county come together on the campus of orange coast college to attend workshops that expose them to careers in such diverse fields as law enforcement, medicine and advanced manufacturing, as well as important life skills such as preparing for a successful job interview. The program is organized in partnership with the orange county department of education and orange coast college.moot court is designed as an oral advocacy program similar to the format of speech and debate. Middle school students are given a set of facts that raise a legal issue. Using a closed library of cases, students present an argument as to why the court should resolve the issue in their favor. Winners from each school advance to the county finals in real courtrooms with judges presiding over the proceedings.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 79% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
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 - The filed numbers largely add up and a large share of available resources goes toward mission work. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 67
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 90
  • Sustainability: 29
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 75.1%; rating input score 75
  • Program expense ratio: 68.5%; rating input score 69
  • Fundraising efficiency: $5.27 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 23; 23rd percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • 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: 6 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 75
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -8.5%; rating input score 24; 24th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.18; rating input score 45; 45th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.44; rating input score 12; 12th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 17.1%; rating input score 22; 22nd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 5.8% per year; rating input score 100; 57th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 1.7% per year; rating input score 100; 33rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 6.1% per year; rating input score 100; 52nd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 75.1% of revenue deployed · 68.5% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 47 of 47 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $279K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $70K · 48 people listed
  • Consistency: 29 of 29 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 11 filing years from 2013 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • 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.

  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 23/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 8 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 24/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 45/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 12/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 22/100.