Festival of Whales Foundation
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 465205128
- IRS 990-EZ coverage
- 2015–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990-EZ 2024
- Location
- Dana Point, CA, USA
- Phone
- 8884404309
- Rating
- 73
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Wildlife Preservation, Protection
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $71,832
- Expenses
- $46,554
- Assets
- $100,537
Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
3 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- DONNA KALEZ (President/Treas)
People named in this filing
- DONNA KALEZ (President/Treas)
- JIM MILLER (Secretary)
- JIM HOLDEN (Director)
Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.
Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
To promote charitable assistance to other charitable organizations, and promote the education, community participation , and economic growth of the surrounding community through the organization and presentation of the annual festival of the whales held at oc dana point harbor, California, and to carry on other charitable and educational activities associated with this goal as allowed by law.
What it reported doing in 2024
The Festival of Whales Foundation was created to inform, inspire and impact residents of Dana Point and visitors from around the world to the annual Festival of Whales event about the importance of ocean life protection and preservation. The annual migration of the California Gray Whale provides the perfect opportunity to share this critical message about protection and preservation and also educate the public on water quality issues that impact the receiving waters of the Pacific Ocean. The Foundation brings together the greater community of Dana Point as well as community members and non-profits from around Southern California to focus on these issues and bring greater awareness to the need to partner to bring about a difference in attitude and action. By promoting individual, civic and corporate responsibility for keeping our oceans clean within a fun, festival atmosphere, we are confident that we will make a difference and spread this important message far beyond our own community. The annual attendance varies between 3,000-5,000 people. As part of our fundraising activities, the Festival of Whales Foundation reaches out to variety of sponsors via a well-designed and user-friendly website, a robust social media campaign, a targeted print advertising campaign, as well as one-on-one meetings with important community decision makers and corporate leaders. These fundraising activities allow the Foundation to produce an event that accomplishes its goals as an organization and raises funds to assist other non-profits in accomplishing their unique goals which ultimately benefit the entire community. We do not provide Grants.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Cannot be determined from the filing. The filing does not provide enough consistent revenue detail to tell how this nonprofit funds its work.
- 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
SUPPORTED - A large share of total spending goes to programs and the filed numbers largely add up. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and program spending has declined or grown slowly.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 71
- Transparency & Controls: 82
- Sustainability: 66
- Growth: 20
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 59.3%; rating input score 59
- Program expense ratio: 91.5%; rating input score 92
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Limited
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 35.2%; rating input score 84; 84th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.16; rating input score 67; 67th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: Limited
- Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 56; 56th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: -11% per year; rating input score 0; 26th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: -5.4% per year; rating input score 0; 33rd percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 8.9% per year; rating input score 100; 70th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 59.3% of revenue deployed · 91.5% of spending went to programs
- Governance: Filed governance answers
- Accomplishments: 1 filed program accomplishment · $43K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 3 people listed
- Consistency: 7 of 7 current checks pass
- Schedules: 3 filed schedules
- Filing history: 9 filing years from 2015 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- 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 — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 59/100.
- High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
- High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 56/100.