GuildSomm International Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
474149429
IRS 990 coverage
2016–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-N 2015
Location
Salinas, CA, USA
Phone
8168035582
Rating
44
Verdict
MIXED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Boards of Trade

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$1,464,860
Expenses
$1,309,846
Assets
$1,449,372
Liabilities
$1,726

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

Leadership & pay

10 people listed

Highest reported compensation

  • Jenny Hemmer (Executive Dir.): $171,839 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

GuildSomm strives to promote professional wine education, member collaboration, and the chief values of the sommelier profession: hospitality, integrity, and humility.

What it reported doing in 2025

Through its on-line community and in-person events, it aims to help members broaden their knowledge of the world's wine regions, enhance their beverage service skills, network with other wine professionals, and stay up-to-date on industry news and trends. The primary focus of GuildSomm is the GuildSomm.com website. Its Internet community provides both public content for the general good of the industry and private content, available for its members only.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 93% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
Distribution model
Cannot be determined from the filing. The filing does not provide enough consistent spending detail to tell whether the nonprofit works directly or through others.

The verdict

MIXED - The filed numbers largely add up and program spending has grown recently. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and a relatively small share of total spending goes to programs.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 19
  • Transparency & Controls: 65
  • Accountability: 58
  • Sustainability: 52
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 20.8%; rating input score 21
  • Program expense ratio: 23.2%; rating input score 23
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 91.7%; rating input score 92; 15th 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: 100%; rating input score 100; 78th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 90%; rating input score 90; 26th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 1 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 12
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Fail
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 10.6%; rating input score 57; 57th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.11; rating input score 46; 46th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 72; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 13.1%; rating input score 29; 29th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 0.4% per year; rating input score 100; 17th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -0.5% per year; rating input score 0; 10th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 11.6% per year; rating input score 100; 60th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 20.8% of revenue deployed · 23.2% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 9 of 10 board members independent · 1 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $263K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $172K · 10 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 15 of 16 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes grants and executive pay
  • Filing history: 10 filing years from 2016 to 2025
  • 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: Mission deployment rate scored 21/100.
  • High — Financial Efficiency: Program expense ratio scored 23/100.
  • High — Transparency & Controls: Pay-setting controls scored 0/100.
  • High — Accountability: Governance controls: 6 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 57/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Functional expense sum did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 46/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 29/100.