Jonny Bass Foundation
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 882975129
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2023–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025, Form 990-PF 2022
- Location
- San Diego, CA, USA
- Phone
- 8583424280
- Rating
- 65
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Arts Education
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $206,742
- Expenses
- $681,923
- Assets
- $1,198,761
- Liabilities
- $7,388
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
3 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- JOSEPH AUSTIN (President)
Highest reported compensation
- JOSEPH AUSTIN (President): $155,169 total reported compensation
- LUCAS KAMIENIECKI (Treasurer): $96,356 total reported compensation
- EDWARD HAASE (Secretary): $34,655 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
MAG Foundation mission is to ensure that art and science education along with web an application hosting services are accessible and well-supported in K-12 classrooms nationwide by providing essential supplies and resources to teachers, enabling creative and educational projects that enrich student learning experiences.
What it reported doing in 2025
Jonny Bass Foundation mission is to ensure that art and science education along with web an application hosting services are accessible and well-supported in K-12 classrooms nationwide by providing essential supplies and resources to teachers, enabling creative and educational projects that enrich student learning experiences.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Investment-supported. 90% of the money available for current operations came from recurring investment income.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The filing allocates 92% 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
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 a relatively small share of voting board members are independent.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 78
- Transparency & Controls: 68
- Accountability: 43
- Sustainability: 23
- Growth: 80
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
- Program expense ratio: 65%; rating input score 65
- Fundraising efficiency: $0.02 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 3; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th 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; 81st percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Limited
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 33.3%; rating input score 33; 18th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 5 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 56
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
- Whistleblower policy: Fail
- 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: Missing
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -229.8%; rating input score 1; 1st percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.76; rating input score 56; 56th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.01; rating input score 43; 43rd percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 42%; rating input score 5; 5th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 46.9% per year; rating input score 100; 94th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 73% per year; rating input score 100; 98th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: -37.5% per year; rating input score 0; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 65% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 1 of 3 board members independent · 5 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $444K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $155K · 3 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Consistency: 27 of 27 current checks pass
- Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes grants and executive pay
- Filing history: 3 filing years from 2023 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 7 filed money-flow records
- 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 — Transparency & Controls: Pay-setting controls scored 0/100.
- Moderate — Accountability: Independent voting board scored 33/100.
- High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 3/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 8 not reported.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 1/100.
- High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 56/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 5/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 43/100.