Ettie Lee Homes Inc Dba Ettie Lee Youth and Family Services

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
951949862
IRS 990 coverage
2014–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Baldwin Park, CA, USA
Phone
6269604861
Rating
81
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$6,657,140
Expenses
$7,126,677
Assets
$3,339,672
Liabilities
$2,794,623

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

Leadership & pay

10 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Terri Varnum (President & CEO)

Highest reported compensation

  • Terri Varnum (President & CEO): $226,384 total reported compensation
  • Kathryn Stannard (VP of Finance & Administration): $149,113 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Ettie Lee Youth & Family Services ("Ettie Lee") operates residential care facilities, a network of treatment foster homes, a substance abuse treatment program and provides an array of mental health services for young people and their families as well as a transitional housing program.

What it reported doing in 2024

Ettie Lee's Intensive Treatment Foster Care (ITFC) program cares for children with serious behavioral problems, who would otherwise require group care placement, and enables them to live in a family setting. This program follows the same model as the Foster Care Adoption Program; however, ITFC offers intensified services for foster youth who need extra structure and support. ITFC places only one foster child in a home where the child has an individualized treatment program and the foster parents receive specialized training and professional support twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.Ettie Lee's unaccompanied minor homes provide boys from 10 to 18 with residential care, mental health services, family reunification, educational, recreational services in a group setting.Ettie Lee Mental Health Programs extend to all of Ettie Lee programming - group care, foster care adoption, and Ettie Lee's community-based substance use disorder program and mental health services. The Mental Health Program is designed to meet the numerous mental health needs of children, youth, and families. Mental Health Services are provided using trauma informed treatment and evidence-based practices that have demonstrated positive outcomes. Services in support of the child include individual, group and family therapy, psychiatric and medication support services, therapeutic behavioral services (TBS), transition and aftercare planning, and in-home and field-based services (including assessment, consultation, case management, individual and family counseling, crisis intervention). The Mental Health Program assists system-involved youth who are not likely to return to their homes to gain caring relationships and coordinated, culturally responsive, trauma-informed support services to help them build a life worth living, establish safe, stable independent living arrangements, and develop safe, stable adult relationships and social support system. All treatment programs are evidence-based. Most services are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Operating model

Revenue model
Grant-funded. 95% of the money available for current operations came from government grants.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 96% 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. Program spending has declined or grown slowly and revenue has declined or grown slowly.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 86
  • Transparency & Controls: 83
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 20
  • Growth: 20

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 88.5%; rating input score 89
  • Program expense ratio: 82.7%; rating input score 83
  • Fundraising efficiency: $66.68 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 82; 82nd percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • 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: 100%; rating input score 100; 72nd 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: 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: -7.1%; rating input score 17; 17th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.47; rating input score 16; 16th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.84; rating input score 9; 9th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 5.3%; rating input score 52; 52nd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -1.4% per year; rating input score 0; 10th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -0.7% per year; rating input score 0; 9th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 2.5% per year; rating input score 100; 22nd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 88.5% of revenue deployed · 82.7% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 8 of 8 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $5.9M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $226K · 10 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 34 of 34 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 11 filing years from 2014 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 1 filed related-organization link
  • 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 — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 17/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 16/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 9/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 52/100.