Joya Scholars

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
300560345
IRS 990 coverage
2013–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-N 2012
Location
Fullerton, CA, USA
Phone
7143225692
Rating
71
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Parent/Teacher Group

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$3,586
Expenses
$23,664
Assets
$10,915
Liabilities
$0

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

Leadership & pay

7 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Julianna Hernandez (President)

People named in this filing

  • Olga Robles (Parent Represen)
  • Larry Bennett (Trustee)
  • David Wang (Secretary)

Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.

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

Overview

Mission

To inspire and prepare students from families of low-income communities in Fullerton to succeed through higher education.

What it reported doing in 2024

By offering college readiness services such as tutoring, mentoring, SAT exam prep, college visits and year-end cultural outings, middle school and high school students from low-income communities in Fullerton can overcome barriers and achieve their dreams of attending college. JOYA Scholars is composed of three programs: Middle School College Readiness Program, High School College Readiness Program, and Parent Academy. All three programs inspire and prepare students and families for college success. By providing key college readiness services, underserved students go on to college and the cycle of poverty is broken one family at a time.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 100% 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

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. A relatively small share of total spending goes to programs and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 63
  • Transparency & Controls: 80
  • Accountability: 76
  • Sustainability: 23
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 17%; rating input score 17
  • Fundraising efficiency: $0.72 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 14; 14th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 88.9%; rating input score 89; 9th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 3 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 43
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -559.9%; rating input score 7; 7th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.46; rating input score 16; 16th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 69; 69th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 60; 60th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 6.9% per year; rating input score 100; 70th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 4.3% per year; rating input score 100; 76th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 2.4% per year; rating input score 100; 54th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 17% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 10 of 7 board members independent · 3 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $4K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 7 people listed
  • Consistency: 14 of 15 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 12 filing years from 2013 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • 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.

Grant-readiness screening is separate from the live rating, not a measure of program quality. Review the source records before making a grant decision.

  • High — Financial Efficiency: Program expense ratio scored 17/100.
  • Moderate — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 6 not reported.
  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 14/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 7/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Independent members within voting members did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 16/100.
  • High — Grant Readiness: California registration: this organization is recorded as not currently operating in California.