Laguna Beach Community Foundation

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
206390272
IRS 990 coverage
2014–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-N 2007
Location
Laguna Beach, CA, USA
Phone
9497154303
Rating
67
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Community Foundations

Reported finances

Revenue
$28,895
Expenses
$15,724
Assets
$797,378
Liabilities
$0

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

Leadership & pay

4 people listed

People named in this filing

  • Nicole Anderson (Trustee)
  • James Fletcher (Trustee)
  • Greg Mech (Trustee)

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 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

The Laguna Beach Community Foundation strengthens our community by encouraging philanthropy. We provide expertise and resources to assist local charities, connect donor passions with nonprofit needs, and work with local professional advisors in assisting their clients in giving

What it reported doing in 2025

South Laguna Community Garden: The South Laguna Community Garden Park, established in 2009, is a community space in Laguna Beach, offering a venue for gardening, educational programs, and events. Efforts to purchase the property for permanent preservation have been ongoing, with the South Laguna Civic Association, South Laguna Community Garden Park, and Laguna Beach Community Foundation working together to raise funds. The foundation remains committed to securing the property or finding an alternative location, and all donated funds are safely held by the Laguna Beach Community Foundation in secure, income-generating accounts for future purchase opportunities. Laguna Beach Community Foundation: To establish and maintain charitable funds to promote philanthropy.

Operating model

Revenue model
Investment-supported. 100% of the money available for current operations came from recurring investment income.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 99% 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 total spending goes to programs and the filed numbers largely add up. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 63
  • Transparency & Controls: 72
  • Accountability: 82
  • Sustainability: 82
  • Growth: 0

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 54.4%; rating input score 54
  • Program expense ratio: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 80%; rating input score 80; 2nd 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: 4 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 57
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • 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: 45.6%; rating input score 85; 85th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 50.71; rating input score 92; 92nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 66; 66th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 58; 58th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -7.8% per year; rating input score 0; 30th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -8.3% per year; rating input score 0; 33rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -13.8% per year; rating input score 0; 10th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 54.4% of revenue deployed · 100% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 4 of 4 board members independent · 4 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $16K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 4 people listed
  • Consistency: 13 of 13 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 2 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 11 filing years from 2014 to 2025
  • 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.

  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 54/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 6 not reported.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 58/100.