Golden State Opportunity

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
474325738
IRS 990 coverage
2015–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
San Francisco, CA, USA
Phone
6282105011
Rating
75
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Human Service Organizations

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$8,136,295
Expenses
$6,707,808
Assets
$4,140,974
Liabilities
$724,029

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

13 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Amy Everitt (President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Amy Everitt (President): $343,822 total reported compensation
  • Esperanza Greenwood (CCPAO/Asst Secy): $211,852 total reported compensation
  • Lindsay Cooper Martin (COO/ASST TREAS): $191,362 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Golden state opportunity (gso) is a nonprofit dedicated to ending poverty by providing all californians with the tools to build financial well-being and thrive. Our work is along two complementary tracks getting people the help they need right now and building the infrastructure to change attitudes toward people living in poverty and the policies that keep them there. Gso leads comprehensive statewide campaigns to help families access tax credits and public benefits, achieve financial stability, and plan for the future through programs that uplift low-income californians. Our community of working families is leading the charge for public policies that end poverty in California. Gso wont stop pushing for systemic change until everyone can easily access the resources, they need to meet their basic needs and transform their lives with financial stability.

What it reported doing in 2024

Gso's initial project is a statewide outreach campaign called caleitc4me to encourage low-income californians to claim the state's earned income tax credit as well as the federal earned income tax credit. Federal and state-earned income tax credits, which incentivize and reward work, are the most important poverty reduction programs in existence. Despite the efforts of these programs, a large number of californians remain in poverty, many unaware of the resources available to them. Promoting greater participation in existing programs and encouraging new, innovative approaches to fighting causes of poverty would lead to drastic improvements in the standard of living for many low-income families struggling to get by.

Operating model

Revenue model
Grant-funded. 60% of the money available for current operations came from government grants.
Distribution model
Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 74% for direct work, and 26% for grants.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - 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 total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 72
  • Transparency & Controls: 75
  • Accountability: 80
  • Sustainability: 49
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 69%; rating input score 69
  • Program expense ratio: 83.6%; rating input score 84
  • Fundraising efficiency: $16.49 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 54; 54th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 1 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 17
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 72.7%; rating input score 73; 12th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 8 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 89
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 17.6%; rating input score 74; 74th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.62; rating input score 22; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.17; rating input score 47; 47th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 15.5%; rating input score 18; 18th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 17.1% per year; rating input score 100; 81st percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 16.5% per year; rating input score 100; 84th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 19.4% per year; rating input score 100; 83rd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 69% of revenue deployed · 83.6% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 8 of 11 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $5.6M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $344K · 13 people listed · 1 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 3 contractors listed · $646K reported
  • Consistency: 31 of 31 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 9 filing years from 2015 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 45 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 40 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.
  • 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 — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 54/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 22/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Other executive compensation review process not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 18/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 47/100.