Embarcadero Media Foundation

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
850941500
IRS 990 coverage
2022–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-N 2021
Location
Palo Alto, CA, USA
Phone
6503268210
Rating
79
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Media, Communications Organizations

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$7,522,573
Expenses
$6,097,980
Assets
$3,873,704
Liabilities
$1,137,340

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

Leadership & pay

17 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Adam Dawes (President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Connie Jo Cotton (Major Accnt. Mngr.): $138,981 total reported compensation
  • Adam Dawes (President): $100,000 total reported compensation
  • Gina Channell Wilcox (Pres. East Bay): $88,150 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Embarcadero media foundation seeks to enhance the quality of life and public engagement in the san francisco bay area by supporting accurate and professional local news coverage of the region, making grants to nonprofit organizations providing needed social & human services to the community; increased in-depth and investigative reporting; conducting public educational events and forums on local issues; and litigating against agencies that are not complying with California's public records act and open meeting laws.

What it reported doing in 2024

The Embarcadero Media Foundations Holiday Fund is a group of annual three-month long campaigns hosted by The Foundation to support local nonprofit organizations serving families and children in the San Francisco Bay Area communities of Palo Alto, East Palo Alto, Mountain View, Menlo Park, Redwood City and Pleasanton. The public campaign raises money from individuals, family, foundations and other organizations, then makes grants to local nonprofits. One hundred percent of donation proceeds to the Holiday Funds are distributed to grantees as determined by a grant committee. The campaign raises most of its funds between October and January. Grants awarded support a wide variety of agencies and programs that provide services to children and families in our region, ranging from services for the homeless, tutoring and child care programs, educational enrichment or remedial programs, mental health counseling services, cultural and arts programs, summer camp programs and scholarships for graduating high school students needing financial assistance to continue their education at community or four-year colleges.

Operating model

Revenue model
Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
Distribution model
Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 79% for direct work, and 21% for grants.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - 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 total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 76
  • Transparency & Controls: 83
  • Accountability: 82
  • Sustainability: 53
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 68.3%; rating input score 68
  • Program expense ratio: 84.1%; rating input score 84
  • Fundraising efficiency: $120.87 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 88; 88th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 88.2%; rating input score 88; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 84.1%; rating input score 84; 23rd 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; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 5 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 56
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: Fail
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 18.9%; rating input score 76; 76th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.64; rating input score 23; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.29; rating input score 35; 35th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 5.4%; rating input score 51; 51st percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 100.3% per year; rating input score 100; 99th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 109% per year; rating input score 100; 99th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 103.3% per year; rating input score 100; 99th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 68.3% of revenue deployed · 84.1% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 14 of 14 board members independent · 5 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $5.1M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $139K · 17 people listed
  • Consistency: 30 of 32 current checks pass · 2 findings to review
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
  • Filing history: 3 filing years from 2022 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 66 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 63 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.
  • 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.

  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 4 of 9 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 23/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 35/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 51/100.