Cross Cultural Expressions

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
472372275
IRS 990 coverage
2018–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2019
Location
Sherman Oaks, CA, USA
Phone
8188601223
Rating
79
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Family Services

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$548,646
Expenses
$604,211
Assets
$55,527
Liabilities
$40,523

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

Leadership & pay

2 people listed

Highest reported compensation

  • MASTANEH MOGHADAM (Executive Dir.): $139,500 total reported compensation
  • DUSTIN ELLIS (DIR OF DVLPMT): $63,250 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

At Cross Cultural Expressions we see a world in which diversity is celebrated as a means to unite people. We work hard to uplift individuals and communities through therapy, education and the arts, in order to increase dialog and understanding. Our projects, though varied in scope, focus and methodologies, all center around this common mission.

What it reported doing in 2024

In 2024, CCE received the following grants: Jewish Foundation Grant - This funding was used to provide individual, group, couples and family counseling services to over 200 low-income immigrants who are Russian or Farsi speaking. We provided services in their own language at no cost to the client. We also provided training, supervision and workshops to mental health professionals as well as to volunteers who work with these populations on best practices. We also created the Yaran: Iranian Peer Counseling Help-line that is on-going for the Farsi speaking community. This help-line provides mental health support and referral services for Farsi speaking community at no charge. This help-line is manned by trained Farsi speaking volunteers. Persian/Russian book grant - We published two mental health coffee table books; one for the Farsi speaking community titled, "Our Immigrant Stories: A Collection of Essays from the Eastern European Diaspora. and the second titled, "Our Immigrant Stories: A Collection of Essays from the Iranian Diaspora." These books included stories written by community members and mental health articles written by a licensed mental health therapist. We published 1,000 books and distributed them through a series of book signing events to community members at no charge.Russian/Farsi Film Project (The Djinn In The Pen) - This project was funded through a grant from the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health. CCE created a feature length mental health movie that aimed to look at concepts around grief and loss and to decrease stigma around mental health within the Russian and Farsi speaking communities. One version of the movie had Russian subtitles and was geared towards the Russian community. The other version had Farsi subtitles and was geared toward the Iranian community. The move was released on the CCE YouTube channel.Russian/Farsi Film Project #2 (TRAPPED) - This project was funded through a grant from the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health. CCE created a feature length mental health movie that aimed to look at concepts around ancestral and generational trauma in immigrant families and to increase dialogue and decrease stigma around mental health issues within the Russian and Farsi speaking communities. One version of the movie had Russian subtitles and was geared towards the Russian community. The other version had Farsi subtitles and was geared toward the Iranian community. The movie was screened in three theaters

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 62% 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

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: 73
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 83
  • Sustainability: 11
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 82%; rating input score 82
  • Program expense ratio: 73.7%; rating input score 74
  • Fundraising efficiency: $6.48 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 24; 24th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd 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: 87.5%; rating input score 88; 21st percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 6 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 75
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: Pass
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -10.1%; rating input score 17; 17th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.09; rating input score 4; 4th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.73; rating input score 10; 10th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 33.6%; rating input score 5; 5th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 22.6% per year; rating input score 100; 85th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 21% per year; rating input score 100; 86th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 15.1% per year; rating input score 100; 73rd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 82% of revenue deployed · 73.7% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 7 of 8 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $445K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $140K · 2 people listed
  • Consistency: 24 of 24 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 5 filing years from 2018 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 4 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.
  • Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.

Key Signals

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

  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 24/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 17/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 4/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 5/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 10/100.