Knowledge Education for Your Success Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
272536621
IRS 990 coverage
2011–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2013
Location
San Bernadino, CA, USA
Phone
9093326823
Rating
75
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Support N.E.C.

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$9,725,980
Expenses
$9,685,647
Assets
$1,248,626
Liabilities
$1,301,252

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

Leadership & pay

7 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • BRIAN DISTELBERG (PRESIDENT)

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

Overview

Mission

To empower low-income families in san bernardino county and unlock their potential for success.by connecting low-income families in need with high-quality services in the community, keys' goals are to: assist low-income families to achieve selfsufficiency,

What it reported doing in 2025

Founded in 2009, knowledge and education for your success (keys) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to enhancing supportive services for the low-income residents of san bernardino county. Keys is an affiliate non-profit of the housing authority of the county of san bernardino. Keys programs and services offer rapid re-housing intervention to economically disadvantaged individuals and families in all four of our rapid rehousing programs: supportive services for veteran families (ssvf), housing support program (hsp), keys for life (kfl), and keys for success (kfs). Through these programs, caseworkers identify strengths, barriers, and community resources, and work with participants to set immediate and achievable goals for housing stabilization, family/household strengthening and empowerment. A minimum of 55% is allocated to direct services to the customer to include deposits, rental assistance, and other allowable cost for stabilization.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 100% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Grant intermediary. The nonprofit sent 77% of its reported program spending out as grants.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - 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: 78
  • Transparency & Controls: 68
  • Accountability: 84
  • Sustainability: 24
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 87.9%; rating input score 88
  • Program expense ratio: 88.2%; rating input score 88
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 90%; rating input score 90; 5th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 1 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 17
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • 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: 5 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 62
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 0.4%; rating input score 28; 28th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.13; rating input score 4; 4th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 1.04; rating input score 2; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 1.8%; rating input score 76; 76th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 15.2% per year; rating input score 100; 75th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 18.1% per year; rating input score 100; 84th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 17.2% per year; rating input score 100; 79th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 87.9% of revenue deployed · 88.2% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 5 of 5 board members independent · 5 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $9.7M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $176K · 7 people listed · 1 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 38 of 41 current checks pass · 3 findings to review
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 12 filing years from 2011 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 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.

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

  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 28/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 4/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 2/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Part IX FeesForServicesAccounting column sum did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Part IX FeesForServicesLegal column sum did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Grant Readiness: Federal audit findings: this organization reported findings in its latest federal Single Audit.