Friends of the Los Angeles River
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 954171497
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2010–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Los Angeles, CA, USA
- Phone
- 3232230585
- Rating
- 81
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Water Resource, Wetlands Conservation and Management
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $1,386,399
- Expenses
- $1,638,395
- Assets
- $702,451
- Liabilities
- $190,310
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
10 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- CANDICE DICKENS-RUSSELL (PRESIDENT)
Highest reported compensation
- CANDICE DICKENS-RUSSELL (PRESIDENT): $144,902 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
At friends of the los angeles river we build capacity for communities, students, and future leaders to advocate for nature, climate, and equity on the los angeles river.
What it reported doing in 2024
We envision a verdant los angeles river that supports vulnerable communities in climate adaptation. The river will be transformed into a dynamic, functioning ecosystem that reduces flood risk, cleans the air, cools temperatures, and supports the biodiversity essential to our collective wellbeing. Our goals are as follows: goal 1: operate - an ecosystem of high quality board, team, and funders dedicated to deep and lasting impact.goal 2: educate - folar's community relations and education programs continuously grow and inspire a diverse, multi-generational base of river stewards and advocates.goal 3: activate - folar is the largest mobilizing force on the river with a base that consistently takes action for nature, climate, and equity on and around the los angeles river.goal 4: a resilient river - a verdant los angeles river that supports vulnerable communities in climate adaptation - a dynamic, functioning ecosystem that reduces flood risk, cleans the air, cools temperatures, and supports the biodiversity essential to our collective wellbeing.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
- 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. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and expenses are high relative to revenue.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 79
- Transparency & Controls: 92
- Accountability: 84
- Sustainability: 18
- Growth: 80
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 90.5%; rating input score 90
- Program expense ratio: 76.6%; rating input score 77
- Fundraising efficiency: $7.51 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 29; 29th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd 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: 90.9%; rating input score 91; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 6 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 75
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: Pass
- Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Missing
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -18.2%; rating input score 10; 10th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.43; rating input score 20; 20th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.27; rating input score 26; 26th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 8.8%; rating input score 41; 41st percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 1.1% per year; rating input score 100; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 2.5% per year; rating input score 100; 28th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: -6.9% per year; rating input score 0; 5th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 90.5% of revenue deployed · 76.6% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 10 of 11 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $1.3M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $145K · 10 people listed
- Consistency: 22 of 22 current checks pass
- Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 15 filing years from 2010 to 2024
- 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.
- High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 29/100.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 10/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 20/100.
- High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 26/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 41/100.