Don Diego Scholarship Foundation

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
330859020
IRS 990 coverage
2015–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Del Mar, CA, USA
Phone
8587924210
Rating
83
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Scholarships, Student Financial Aid Services, Awards

Reported finances

Revenue
$265,536
Expenses
$329,431
Assets
$1,292,600
Liabilities
$103,610

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

23 people listed

Highest reported compensation

  • ASHLEY COLBURN MCCAUGHAN (Executive Dir.): $74,420 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

The don diego scholarship foundation provides annual scholarships to outstanding san diego county high school seniors who have participated in the san diego county fair or other del mar fairgrounds events it also gives grants for agricultural education.

What it reported doing in 2025

The don diego scholarship foundation provides annual scholarships to outstanding san diego county high school seniors who have participated in the san diego county fair or other del mar fairgrounds events. The foundation also gives grants for agricultural education.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 81% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 40% for direct work, and 60% for grants.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

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 fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 86
  • Transparency & Controls: 89
  • Accountability: 79
  • Sustainability: 31
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 81.6%; rating input score 82
  • Fundraising efficiency: $6.81 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 28; 28th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 92.9%; rating input score 93; 26th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 97.5%; rating input score 98; 59th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 4 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -24.1%; rating input score 10; 10th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 3.92; rating input score 75; 75th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.08; rating input score 24; 24th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 22.6%; rating input score 16; 16th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 13.2% per year; rating input score 100; 74th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 1.7% per year; rating input score 100; 28th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 2.8% per year; rating input score 100; 34th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 81.6% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 22 of 22 board members independent · 4 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $269K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $74K · 23 people listed
  • Consistency: 25 of 26 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
  • Filing history: 11 filing years from 2015 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • 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 — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 28/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 10/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 16/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 24/100.