LabRats San Diego

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
820839046
IRS 990 coverage
2022–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2021
Location
Encinitas, CA, USA
Phone
7604504717
Rating
56
Verdict
MIXED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Elementary, Secondary Education, K - 12

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$591,218
Expenses
$548,168
Assets
$196,390
Liabilities
$41,124

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

Leadership & pay

6 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • James K Merrill (President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Jonathan Ryan Merrill (Director): $67,102 total reported compensation
  • Jason P Merrill (Director): $65,257 total reported compensation
  • James K Merrill (President): $28,256 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 teach Science Technology Engineering art and math , enrichment education school grade tk/K-8 grades.

What it reported doing in 2025

To teach Science Technology Engineering art and math , enrichment education school grade tk/K-8 grades.Our 2025 year was one of expansion of existing contractSouth Bay school district as well as with Guajome schools, Elsinore School District, and Rincon band of Luiseno Indians. We continued programs at Au nur Learning Academy as well as started programs with the ASYMCA Camp Pendleton. Our Digital channel on youtube increased the number of labs available on our channel as well as users + followers. Also In 2025, We continue to operate 2 mobile science vans growing our mobile science teaching capabilities. We also continued weekly opportunities at our STEM discovery center, continuing our availability of 5 days per week, while upping our class offerings from 6 per week to 8 per week.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 85% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
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

MIXED - The filed numbers largely add up and program spending has grown recently. A relatively small share of voting board members are independent and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 59
  • Transparency & Controls: 86
  • Accountability: 0
  • Sustainability: 33
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 63.8%; rating input score 64
  • Program expense ratio: 68.8%; rating input score 69
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 92.9%; rating input score 93; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 0%; rating input score 0; 6th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 0 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 0
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: Fail
    • Other executive compensation review process: Limited
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Fail
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 7.3%; rating input score 50; 50th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.36; rating input score 18; 18th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.21; rating input score 25; 25th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 29.3%; rating input score 8; 8th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 22% per year; rating input score 100; 82nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 26% per year; rating input score 100; 88th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 44.3% per year; rating input score 100; 94th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 63.8% of revenue deployed · 68.8% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 0 of 6 board members independent · 0 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $377K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $67K · 6 people listed
  • Consistency: 28 of 29 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 4 filing years from 2022 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 — Accountability: Independent voting board scored 0/100.
  • High — Accountability: Governance controls: 7 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 18/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 50/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 8/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 25/100.