Live Like Coco Foundation

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
811667219
IRS 990-EZ coverage
2018–2025
Forms available
Form 990-EZ 2025, Form 990-N 2016
Location
Aptos, CA, USA
Phone
4159021934
Rating
81
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Youth Development N.E.C.

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$139,254
Expenses
$88,465
Assets
$209,435
Liabilities
$0

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

Leadership & pay

7 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Kate Pavao (President and Exec. Dir.)

People named in this filing

  • Kate Pavao (President and Exec. Dir.)
  • Hannah Stubblefield (Treasurer)
  • Aaron Lazenby (Secretary)

Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.

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

Overview

Mission

To help kids in Santa Cruz County grow up healthy and with opportunities to pursue their dreams.

What it reported doing in 2025

Drove our bookmobile to every Pajaro Valley Unified School District (PVUSD) K-8 summer school site, to school festivals, and even to community events such as the Worlds Shortest Parade and the Watsonville Downtown Candy Crawl in order to encourage reading and literacy.Worked with Watsonville Charter School of the Arts to open the bookmobile as the schools first-ever library.Distributed more than 18,000 free books through schools, partnerships with organizations such as PVUSD and Diversify Your Stack, community events and through our own Little Free Libraries.Placed new Little Free Libraries at MacQuiddy Elementary and at the Watsonville YMCA, bringing our total to 20 Little Free Libraries in our community.Hosted our annual Run for Reading at Pinto Lake County Park, registering more than 230 local children. Each participant got free books from our bookmobile.Worked with the Friends of the Aptos Public Library to install an interactive sensory path in the Live Like Coco Childrens Reading Garden.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 100% 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.

The verdict

STRONG - The filed numbers largely add up and a large share of total spending goes to programs. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and reported officer compensation is a large share of total spending, which may reflect staffing concentration.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 65
  • Transparency & Controls: 100
  • Sustainability: 77
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 53.4%; rating input score 53
  • Program expense ratio: 84.1%; rating input score 84

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 36.5%; rating input score 86; 86th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.37; rating input score 84; 84th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 74; 74th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 2%; rating input score 25; 25th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 7.9% per year; rating input score 100; 53rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 14.5% per year; rating input score 100; 74th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 28.8% per year; rating input score 100; 85th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 53.4% of revenue deployed · 84.1% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: Filed governance answers
  • Accomplishments: 2 filed program accomplishments · $74K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 7 people listed
  • Consistency: 8 of 8 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 8 filing years from 2018 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.

  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 53/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 25/100.