Delta Dental
Legal name: Delta Dental of California
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 941461312
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2011–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- San Francisco, CA, USA
- Phone
- 888-706-0413
- Rating
- 86
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Health Treatment Facilities, Primarily Outpatient
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $6,256,981,163
- Expenses
- $6,033,530,855
- Assets
- $4,346,571,874
- Liabilities
- $1,190,448,138
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
50 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- CASTRO MICHAEL J (FORMER CEO & CHAIR)
- CHAVARRIA SARAH M (CEO & PRESIDENT)
Highest reported compensation
- CASTRO MICHAEL J (FORMER CEO & CHAIR): $6,159,596 total reported compensation
- CHAVARRIA SARAH M (CEO & PRESIDENT): $4,125,991 total reported compensation
- WEBER ALICIA F (EVP CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER): $3,845,265 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
To advance dental health and access through exceptional dental benefits, service, technology and professional support. As a purpose-driven organization, Delta Dental of California has a legacy of philanthropy throughout its history. The Delta Dental Community Care Foundation began when we identified hundreds of clinics across our enterprise who we could provide funding grants to for oral health services. Many of those clinics are still partners today. As the Community Care Foundation has grown, we have evolved our grantmaking and partnership model. Today, we look for areas in which we can have a large impact on health outcomes. In support of our mission to build caring, resilient communities, we work with nonprofit partners across our 15-state and Washington, D.C. enterprise to increase access to oral health.
What it reported doing in 2024
The organization provided dental benefit coverage for 13,959,000 beneficiaries in 2024, primarily through contracts with independent dentists. Included were publicly sponsored dental benefit programs administered by the organization, as well as 1,399,000 enrollees for various federal employee programs. The organization paid more than $5.2 billion for dental care during 2024.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Earned-program. 98% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
- Distribution model
- Member-benefit provider. The nonprofit used 88% of its reported program spending for member benefits.
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: 84
- Transparency & Controls: 88
- Accountability: 91
- Sustainability: 48
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 93.4%; rating input score 93
- Program expense ratio: 98.4%; rating input score 98
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 93.8%; rating input score 94; 25th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 4 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 67
- Compensation committee: Pass
- Independent consultant: Pass
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
- Written employment contract: Missing
- Compensation survey or study: Pass
- Board or committee approval: Pass
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: 99.3%; rating input score 99; 39th percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Limited
- Related-party transparency: Yes; rating input score 100
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 84.6%; rating input score 85; 32nd 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: 3.6%; rating input score 50; 50th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.72; rating input score 28; 28th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.27; rating input score 59; 59th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 0.7%; rating input score 79; 79th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 1% per year; rating input score 100; 11th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 1.5% per year; rating input score 100; 11th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 8.9% per year; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 1 operating location identified
- Where the money goes: 93.4% of revenue deployed · 98.4% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 11 of 13 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $5.9B in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $6.2M · 50 people listed · 4 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $92.4M reported
- Consistency: 37 of 38 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes grants, executive pay, and related organizations
- Filing history: 13 filing years from 2011 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 72 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 50 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.
- Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 50/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 28/100.
- Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
- Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 59/100.