Lead California

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
320441191
IRS 990 coverage
2014–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Fresno, CA, USA
Phone
6502425940
Rating
59
Verdict
MIXED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Educational Services and Schools - Other

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$256,699
Expenses
$366,183
Assets
$179,666
Liabilities
$0

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

Leadership & pay

5 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • ELAINE IKEDA (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)

Highest reported compensation

  • ELAINE IKEDA (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $170,996 total reported compensation
  • PIPER MCGINLEY (ADMINISTRATIVE DIRECTOR): $112,920 total reported compensation
  • LIANE LOUIE-BADUA (DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC RELATIONS): $24,056 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Lc is a university and college presidents membership organization that provides educational services and support to higher education institutions in California, focusing on the pedagogy of service learning, civic engagement and community service.

What it reported doing in 2024

Lead California supports the implementation and administration of community service, service learning, community based participatory research, and related civic engagement activities on our lead California member campuses. This includes conducting campus site visits to member institutions, consulting with campus representatives via telephone to offer advice and assistance, organizing networking opportunities between campuses and campus representatives, and creating and sending monthly newsletters and other publication resources to our campus members. Lead California also organizes instructional webinars and holds retreats for service-learning directors and leaders. Lead California spends time writing letters of interest for funding opportunities and edited an online resource publication for the service learning field. Lead California managines membership renewals, conducting board meetings, and managing human resources and fiscal management for lead California.

Operating model

Revenue model
Membership-supported. 83% of the money available for current operations came from membership dues.
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 - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. A relatively small share of voting board members are independent and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 82
  • Transparency & Controls: 66
  • Accountability: 18
  • Sustainability: 19
  • Growth: 40

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 80%; rating input score 80
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th 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: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Missing
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 0%; rating input score 0; 7th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 4 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 44
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: Pass
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -42.7%; rating input score 6; 6th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.49; rating input score 24; 24th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 80; 80th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 84.1%; rating input score 1; 1st percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 3.4% per year; rating input score 100; 46th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -1.1% per year; rating input score 0; 19th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -8.7% per year; rating input score 0; 7th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 80% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 0 of 3 board members independent · 4 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $293K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $171K · 5 people listed · 1 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 16 of 16 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules · includes executive pay
  • Filing history: 10 filing years from 2014 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 3 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.
  • Moderate — Accountability: Governance controls: 4 of 8 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 6/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 24/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 1/100.