Council on Governmental Ethics Laws
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 611250285
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2013–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Sacramento, CA, USA
- Phone
- 8445266727
- Rating
- 82
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Government and Public Administration
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $456,321
- Expenses
- $486,854
- Assets
- $625,144
- Liabilities
- $7,572
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
12 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- DANIEL CHO (PRESIDENT)
- GALENA WEST (PRESIDENT EL)
People named in this filing
- DANIEL CHO (PRESIDENT)
- GALENA WEST (PRESIDENT EL)
- BRYAN MCHALE (TREASURER/SE)
Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
The primary purpose of the council shall be to facilitate and promote the exchange and dissemination of information on govermental ethics
What it reported doing in 2024
Production and distribution of various public information publications and periodicals (primarily through electronic media) designed to educate the public and media in the legislative process and ethics in the law
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Earned-program. 100% 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.
The verdict
STRONG - 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 expenses are high relative to revenue.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 78
- Transparency & Controls: 90
- Accountability: 82
- Sustainability: 40
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 90.2%; rating input score 90
- Program expense ratio: 84.9%; rating input score 85
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
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: Limited
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 4 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 57
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Missing
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -6.7%; rating input score 27; 27th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.28; rating input score 47; 47th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.01; rating input score 44; 44th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 69; 69th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 8.4% per year; rating input score 100; 66th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 2.6% per year; rating input score 100; 39th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 6.2% per year; rating input score 100; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 90.2% of revenue deployed · 84.9% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 12 of 12 board members independent · 4 of 7 filing controls reported
- Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $413K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 12 people listed
- Highest-paid contractors: 1 contractor listed · $128K reported
- Consistency: 17 of 17 current checks pass
- Schedules: 2 filed schedules
- Filing history: 11 filing years from 2013 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- 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.
Grant-readiness screening is separate from the live rating, not a measure of program quality. Review the source records before making a grant decision.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 6 not reported.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 27/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 47/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 44/100.
- High — Grant Readiness: California registration: this organization is not authorized to operate as a charity in California.