HomeFirst
Legal name: Homefirst Services of Santa Clara County
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 942684272
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2010–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- San Jose, CA, US
- Phone
- (408) 539-2100
- Rating
- 88
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $62,190,501
- Expenses
- $63,103,879
- Assets
- $33,808,205
- Liabilities
- $17,996,816
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
22 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- SRI VENKAT (PRESIDENT/BOARD CHAIR)
- ANDREA URTON (CEO (THRU 07/2024))
- RENE RAMIREZ (COO, CEO (AS OF 11/2024))
Highest reported compensation
- RENE RAMIREZ (COO, CEO (AS OF 11/2024)): $356,561 total reported compensation
- KELLY VAZQUEZ (CPO, COO (AS OF 01/2025)): $251,025 total reported compensation
- ARTHUR STEIN (CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER): $245,400 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Ending homelessness.
What it reported doing in 2024
Supportive services for veteran families (ssvf): this program is designed to assist low-income veteran families who are homeless or at risk of homelessness. The program provides rapid rehusing and homelessness prevention services, helping veteran families stabilize their housing situation. Services provided include financial assistance for rent, utilities and security deposits, mediation with landlords to prevent eviction, rapid rehousing assistance in securing permanent housing, case management to help acccess mainstream benefits such as food assistance and employment programs, employment support such as employment search assistance and resume building, and health services such as substance use treatment referrals.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Grant-funded. 84% of the money available for current operations came from government grants.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The filing allocates 90% 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.
- Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.
The verdict
STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Expenses are high relative to revenue and total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 86
- Transparency & Controls: 91
- Accountability: 100
- Sustainability: 23
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 87.6%; rating input score 88
- Program expense ratio: 86.3%; rating input score 86
- Fundraising efficiency: $46.88 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 74; 74th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 68th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 5 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 83
- Compensation committee: Pass
- Independent consultant: Pass
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
- Written employment contract: Pass
- Compensation survey or study: Pass
- Board or committee approval: Pass
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 77th percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 77th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 9 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 100
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: Pass
- Other executive compensation review process: Pass
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -1.5%; rating input score 21; 21st percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.54; rating input score 20; 20th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.53; rating input score 34; 34th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 3.5%; rating input score 31; 31st percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 17% per year; rating input score 100; 90th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 15.6% per year; rating input score 100; 90th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 1% per year; rating input score 100; 10th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 13 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 2 operating locations identified
- Where the money goes: 87.6% of revenue deployed · 86.3% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 12 of 12 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $54.5M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $357K · 22 people listed · 5 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $5.8M reported
- Consistency: 39 of 39 current checks pass
- Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
- Filing history: 15 filing years from 2010 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 10 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.
Key Signals
Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 21/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 20/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 31/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 34/100.