Frontline Catalysts

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
863102192
IRS 990 coverage
2022–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2021, Form 990-N 2020
Location
Oakland, CA, USA
Phone
5105669026
Rating
83
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Alliance/Advocacy Organizations

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$703,506
Expenses
$553,581
Assets
$644,149
Liabilities
$19,955

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

Leadership & pay

11 people listed

Highest reported compensation

  • Xchitl Cortez (Executive Dir.): $113,773 total reported compensation
  • Marcus Harris (Director): $64,345 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Empowering Frontline Youth to Lead the Movement for Transformative Climate Justice

What it reported doing in 2025

Catalysts Action Leadership Institute (CALI, formerly OYACA): CALI engaged approximately 40 youth through multi-session leadership cohorts, plus an additional 6 youth through Youth Advisory Council, advocacy training, and community engagement activities. Youth participated in climate justice education, research, and civic engagement, culminating in youth-led public presentations and community events. Cohort participants completed 100120+ hours of service. FC also provided mission-related environmental justice expertise to CARB and Urban Strategies Collaborative with the City of Oakland, including community-informed review, feedback, and participation in environmental justice and community planning efforts.

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. 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: 92
  • Accountability: 84
  • Sustainability: 56
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 68.7%; rating input score 69
  • Program expense ratio: 87.4%; rating input score 87
  • Fundraising efficiency: $65.67 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 80; 80th 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: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 5 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 62
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: Pass
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 21.3%; rating input score 74; 74th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.16; rating input score 48; 48th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.03; rating input score 49; 49th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 32.2%; rating input score 7; 7th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 28.7% per year; rating input score 100; 87th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 31.8% per year; rating input score 100; 91st percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 48.5% per year; rating input score 100; 95th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 68.7% of revenue deployed · 87.4% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 6 of 6 board members independent · 5 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $484K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $114K · 11 people listed
  • Consistency: 21 of 21 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 4 filing years from 2022 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 5 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.
  • 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: 2 of 7 not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 48/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 7/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 49/100.