Friends of Rose Canyon

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
651227043
IRS 990 coverage
2015–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2022
Location
San Diego, CA, USA
Phone
8585251489
Rating
81
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Environmental Education and Outdoor Survival Programs

Reported finances

Revenue
$163,986
Expenses
$165,396
Assets
$581,797
Liabilities
$0

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

Leadership & pay

4 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Deborah Knight (President)
  • Ariane Jansma (Vice-President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Deborah Knight (President): $47,212 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Protect, Preserve and Restore Rose Canyon and The Rose Creek Watershed

What it reported doing in 2025

Environmental Restoration/Stewardship Objective To remove invasive plants and restore native habitat in Rose Canyon to engage the public in habitat restoration planting, weeding, and watering, and to educate people about our native plants and animals. Activities we contracted with a non-profit organization and a restoration company to conduct habitat restoration in Rose Canyon, which we planned and oversaw. We logged 825 restoration volunteer hours, with a total of 272 volunteers and 44 events. Volunteers removed invasive plants planted, weeded and watered native plants and planted acorns to restore native oaks. We coordinated our activities with City of San Diego Open Space Park Rangers.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 75% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 100% 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. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 87
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 54
  • Sustainability: 47
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 90.8%; rating input score 91
  • Program expense ratio: 88.7%; rating input score 89
  • Fundraising efficiency: $23.1 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 59; 59th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 75%; rating input score 75; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 2 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 25
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: Fail
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -0.9%; rating input score 33; 33rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 3.52; rating input score 72; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 77; 77th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 28.5%; rating input score 12; 12th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 6.8% per year; rating input score 100; 58th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 3.5% per year; rating input score 100; 39th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 8.2% per year; rating input score 100; 57th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 90.8% of revenue deployed · 88.7% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 3 of 4 board members independent · 2 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $147K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $47K · 4 people listed
  • Consistency: 21 of 21 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 4 filing years from 2015 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
  • 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.

  • High — Accountability: Governance controls: 5 of 7 not reported.
  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 59/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 33/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 12/100.