Fullerton Family Foundation

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN: 943316190
IRS 990 coverage: 2010–2018
Forms available: Form 990 2018
Location: Novato, CA, USA
Phone: 4154642500
Rating: 75
Verdict: SUPPORTED
Rating confidence: Moderate
Sector: Private Independent Foundations

Reported finances

Revenue: $1,583
Expenses: $26,850,457
Assets: $0
Liabilities: $0

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2018. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

8 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

THOMAS PETERS PHD (PRESIDENT AND CEO)

Highest reported compensation

THOMAS PETERS PHD (PRESIDENT AND CEO): $737,676 total reported compensation
SA HARTMAN (CFO): $390,760 total reported compensation
ASHLEY SMITH (SECRETARY): $123,184 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2018. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Fullerton family foundation ("fff") is a California nonprofit public benefit corporation organized as a supporting organization of the marin community foundation ("mcf"). Fff engages in charitable activities which are consistent with the charitable purposes of mcf. Mcf's mission is to encourage and apply philanthropic contributions to help improve the human condition, embrace diversity, promote a humane and democratic society, and enhance the community's quality of life, now and for future generations.

What it reported doing in 2018

During the fiscal year ended june 30, 2019, the fullerton family foundation distributed 44 grants totaling $26,789,837 to support charitable programs at qualified public charities.

Operating model

Revenue model: Investment-supported. 100% of the money available for current operations came from recurring investment income.
Distribution model: Grant intermediary. The nonprofit sent 100% of its reported program spending out as grants.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Few specific pay-setting methods are documented in the filing; unanswered boxes are not proof of absence and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

Financial Efficiency: 89
Transparency & Controls: 68
Accountability: 86
Sustainability: 3
Growth: 40

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
Program expense ratio: 99.8%; rating input score 100
Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
Pay-setting controls: 0 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 0
- Compensation committee: Missing
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
- Written employment contract: Missing
- Compensation survey or study: Missing
- Board or committee approval: Missing
Foreign activity oversight: Limited
Grant itemization coverage: 99.8%; rating input score 100; 58th percentile among comparable filings
Major donor itemization: Limited
Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
Governance controls: 6 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 67
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: Fail
- Other executive compensation review process: Fail
- Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

Operating margin: -1,696,075.4%; rating input score 0; 0th percentile among comparable filings
Total-asset coverage ratio: 0; rating input score 2; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
Liabilities to assets ratio: Limited
Officer compensation ratio: 0.6%; rating input score 21; 21st percentile among comparable filings

Growth

Program expense growth: 57.2% per year; rating input score 100; 95th percentile among comparable filings
Revenue growth: -37.3% per year; rating input score 0; 12th percentile among comparable filings
Asset growth: -5% per year; rating input score 0; 25th percentile among comparable filings

Details

Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 99.8% of spending went to programs
Governance: 5 of 5 board members independent · 6 of 9 filing controls reported
Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $26.8M in reported program spending
Leadership: top reported pay $738K · 8 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
Consistency: 15 of 15 current checks pass
Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes grants and executive pay
Filing history: 9 filing years from 2010 to 2018
Contacts: How to reach this organization
Money network: 33 filed money-flow records
Related organizations: 46 filed related-organization links
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.

Grant-readiness screening is separate from the live rating, not a measure of program quality. Review the source records before making a grant decision.

High — Transparency & Controls: Pay-setting controls scored 0/100.
Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 9 not reported.
High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 0/100.
High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 2/100.
High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 21/100.
High — Grant Readiness: Automatic revocation: this organization had its federal tax-exempt status automatically revoked.
High — Grant Readiness: California registration: this organization is recorded as not currently operating in California.