La Cocina Va

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
462037695
IRS 990 coverage
2016–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2015, Form 990-N 2014
Location
Arlington, VA, USA
Phone
7035961557
Rating
74
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Home Economics

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$2,104,423
Expenses
$1,625,256
Assets
$2,742,553
Liabilities
$1,268,763

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

Leadership & pay

13 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • BRIAN MACNAIR (CEO)

Highest reported compensation

  • BRIAN MACNAIR (CEO): $177,685 total reported compensation
  • DANIELA HURTADO (DIR. OF PROGRAMS & OPERATIONS): $159,454 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

To use food to generate workforce & economic development in minority communities through culinary arts, job readiness training, vocational instruction, life skills development, job placement, & safety certifications.

What it reported doing in 2025

Training and workforce development: empowers low-income communities with job training and placement that results in a 90% job placement rate, a 39% average wage increase, and a 57% wage increase among women. In 2025, the total number of persons served by the culinary training program was 88.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 64% 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.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 67
  • Transparency & Controls: 70
  • Accountability: 90
  • Sustainability: 55
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 63.7%; rating input score 64
  • Program expense ratio: 82.4%; rating input score 82
  • Fundraising efficiency: $11.84 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 41; 41st percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd 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: 6 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 75
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 22.8%; rating input score 76; 76th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.69; rating input score 52; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.46; rating input score 18; 18th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 20.7%; rating input score 15; 15th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 19.6% per year; rating input score 100; 83rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 14.2% per year; rating input score 100; 78th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 18% per year; rating input score 100; 81st percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 63.7% of revenue deployed · 82.4% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 11 of 11 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $1.3M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $178K · 13 people listed · 1 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 34 of 34 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 10 filing years from 2016 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 4 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.
  • Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 41/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 8 not reported.
  • Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 52/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 15/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 18/100.