Groundwork San Diego-Chollas Creek

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
743184848
IRS 990 coverage
2012–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2011
Location
San Diego, CA, USA
Phone
6195430430
Rating
92
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Water Resource, Wetlands Conservation and Management

Reported finances

Revenue
$1,854,435
Expenses
$1,898,276
Assets
$1,852,941
Liabilities
$1,627,262

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

Leadership & pay

13 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Leslie Reynolds (Executive Director)
  • Vicki Estrada (President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Leslie Reynolds (Executive Director): $59,859 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Groundwork San Diego-Chollas Creek works at the intersection of social, environmental, and climate justice, grounded in strong university and communitypartnerships, to deliver education, green infrastructure, and climate safeneighborhoods. Groundworks mission is to bring about the regeneration, improvementand management of the environment through community-based partnerships which empowerpeople, businesses and organizations to promote economic and social well-being.Groundwork is committed to revitalizing the Chollas Creek Watershed and itscommunities.Groundwork San Diego has spent 18 years building trusted relationships in the Chollas Creek Watershed through environmental and climate justice initiatives led by and for the community. Our flagship EarthLab Climate Action Center, developed on previously vacant land at Millennial Tech Middle School, has educated thousands of students and families about environmental science and climate resilience. We maintain active partnerships with local

What it reported doing in 2024

Watershed InfrastructurePlanning, design, and construction of community-driven climate resilience projectscontinue to be a central component of Groundworks work in the Chollas Creek Watershed. One of only a select group of NGOs approved to deliver capital projects approved to improve City assets, Groundwork has generated over $11.2M in funding to restore and transform Chollas Creek and support its neighborhoods by advancing climate-resilient parks; active transportation bikeways; expanded tree canopies. These projects aim to reconnect communities through climate-resilient infrastructure and honor the Kumeyaay history in the watershed through cultural signage.EducationThe Groundwork EarthLab Educators deliver place-based learning experiences and projects during the school day, after school, and in the summer to over 1500 K-12 youth of the San Diego Unified School Districts Lincoln Cluster. The Experiential Early Learning Program provided students with outdoor STEAM education that increased understanding of ecological dynamics affecting their community. The Middle School project-based learnn program empowered students in grades 68 to tackle real-world, local climate action topics through interdisciplinary projects, such as reimagining their neighborhood as climate-resilient, implementing sustainable urban agriculture, and utilizing blue-green infrastructure to prevent flooding and increase access to green spaces. The Green Team Leadership Development Internship provide a year-long program focused on youth leadership, advocacy, and climate action. With the addition of a hydroponic farm at the EarthLab this year, our educators have added projects that inform students on the nexus between climate impacts and food production along with education about of the nutritional value of fruits and vegetables. Climate-safe NeighborhoodsThe Chollas Creek Watershed exemplifies compounded impacts of historic environmentalinjustice and redlining. Creek channelization and freeway construction has dividedneighborhoods, displacing hundreds of families and businesses, particularly BIPOCresidents who had rare opportunities for property ownership in Southeastern SanDiego. With the launch of the Chollas Blue Green Collaborative, composed of residents, landowners, planning agencies, regulators, developers, and industry leaders, a comprehensive Chollas Blue Green Vision for the watershed infrastructure was created. The Vision enshrines the Collaboratives recommended constellation of multi-benefit nature-based solutions/typologies that match the complexity of the watersheds climate challenges and opportunities to build resilience. The document guides and empowers the community and public decision-makers in capital project development to combat extreme weather events in the watershed.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 98% 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 expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 99
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 90
  • Sustainability: 34
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 97.9%; rating input score 98
  • Fundraising efficiency: $249.41 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 93; 93rd 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; 63rd 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: Fail
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Fail
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -2.4%; rating input score 29; 29th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.98; rating input score 42; 42nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.88; rating input score 7; 7th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 3.2%; rating input score 57; 57th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 11.5% per year; rating input score 100; 67th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 12.9% per year; rating input score 100; 74th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 23.3% per year; rating input score 100; 85th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 97.9% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 12 of 12 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $1.9M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $60K · 13 people listed
  • Highest-paid contractors: 3 contractors listed · $741K reported
  • Consistency: 24 of 24 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 13 filing years from 2012 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • 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.

  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 8 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 29/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 42/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 7/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 57/100.