Cenic

Legal name: Corporation for Education Network Initiatives in California

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN: 943289022
IRS 990 coverage: 2012–2024
Official website data refreshed: Sep 2026
Forms available: Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024
Location: La Mirada, CA, US
Phone: 714-220-3400
Rating: 82
Verdict: STRONG
Rating confidence: Moderate
Sector: Management & Technical Assistance

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue: $74,284,218
Expenses: $74,510,520
Assets: $109,525,584
Liabilities: $20,137,005

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

Leadership & pay

27 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

LOUIS FOX (PRESIDENT/CEO)
STANLEY HAN (ASSOCIATE VICE PRESIDENT OF ENGAGEMENT)

Highest reported compensation

LOUIS FOX (PRESIDENT/CEO): $658,727 total reported compensation
TIEN NGUYEN (EXECUTIVE VP & CIO): $410,018 total reported compensation
SHERILYN EVANS (SR ADVISOR, ACCESS & EQUITY): $360,081 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

CENIC designs and operates the California Research and Education Network (CalREN), a high-bandwidth, low-latency network that connects California's research and education institutions, including K-20 schools, community colleges, universities, libraries, and other public-serving organizations, enabling world-class innovation, collaboration, and economic growth.

What it reported doing in 2024

Network and associate fees, operations, and research operation of advanced private network for k-20 students, educators, libraries, researchers and other public serving institutions. The network supports capabilities such as remote instrumentation, multicasting, teleconferencing, video streaming, large-scale distributed digital storage, etc. The fees are comprised of backbone network services, circuits, equipment fees, ongoing maintenance, and multiple deliverable arrangements, which can include installation service, and ongoing network service and maintenance.

Operating model

Revenue model: Grant-funded. 68% of the money available for current operations came from government grants.
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

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Expenses are high relative to revenue and total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.

Rating breakdown

Financial Efficiency: 81
Transparency & Controls: 79
Accountability: 96
Sustainability: 38
Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

Mission deployment rate: 91%; rating input score 91
Program expense ratio: 89.8%; rating input score 90
Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 68th 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: Limited
Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

Independent voting board: 94.4%; rating input score 94; 46th 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: -0.3%; rating input score 25; 25th percentile among comparable filings
Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.47; rating input score 53; 53rd percentile among comparable filings
Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.18; rating input score 71; 71st percentile among comparable filings
Officer compensation ratio: 4.3%; rating input score 22; 22nd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

Program expense growth: 2.2% per year; rating input score 100; 16th percentile among comparable filings
Revenue growth: 2.6% per year; rating input score 100; 18th percentile among comparable filings
Asset growth: 2.2% per year; rating input score 100; 16th percentile among comparable filings

Details

What they do: 10 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
Where the money goes: 91% of revenue deployed · 89.8% of spending went to programs
Governance: 17 of 18 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $66.9M in reported program spending
Leadership: top reported pay $659K · 27 people listed · 2 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $1.8M reported
Consistency: 31 of 31 current checks pass
Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
Filing history: 13 filing years from 2012 to 2024
Contacts: How to reach this organization
Money network: 10 filed money-flow records
Related organizations: 4 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.

Key Signals

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

High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 25/100.
Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 53/100.
High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 22/100.