Los Angeles Communities Advocating for Unity
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 320150097
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2009–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Los Angeles, CA, USA
- Phone
- 5622617912
- Rating
- 78
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Housing Rehabilitation
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $1,600,793
- Expenses
- $1,305,352
- Assets
- $336,791
- Liabilities
- $0
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
6 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- VIRGINA REYES (Executive Director)
Highest reported compensation
- VIRGINA REYES (Executive Director): $92,291 total reported compensation
- JAVIER RAMIREZ (CHAIRMAN): $15,550 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
LA CAUSA, Inc. empowers young adults to transform their lives through education, workforce training, and leadership development. We provide hands-on occupational training in construction and hospitality/culinary arts, academic suupport.
What it reported doing in 2024
LA CAUSA, Inc. is a nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering opportunity youth and young adults through workforce development, leadership training, and educational advancement. Through hands-on occupational training in construction and hospitality/culinary arts, combined with academic support and personal development services, LA CAUSA equips participants with industry-recognized credentials, practical skills, and pathways to long-term economic self-sufficiency.Our organization is recognized in our community as a space of transformation for young people in need of second chances. Through our project AvanZa we provide access to post-secondary education, occupational training, to prepare our participants to transition into higher education, apprenticeship programs, and/or the workforce. LA CAUSA, Inc. develops skilled workers, strengthens the local workforce, and uplifts the economy in our community.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Grant-funded. 65% of the money available for current operations came from government grants.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The filing allocates 95% 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 available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and revenue has declined or grown slowly.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 77
- Transparency & Controls: 94
- Accountability: 72
- Sustainability: 54
- Growth: 40
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 80%; rating input score 80
- Program expense ratio: 98.1%; rating input score 98
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 92.9%; rating input score 93; 19th 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: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 3 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 33
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Fail
- Document-retention policy: Fail
- CEO compensation review process: Fail
- Other executive compensation review process: Fail
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Missing
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 18.5%; rating input score 74; 74th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.26; rating input score 12; 12th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 91; 91st percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 8.3%; rating input score 43; 43rd percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 6.1% per year; rating input score 100; 48th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: -4.3% per year; rating input score 0; 6th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: -1.9% per year; rating input score 0; 12th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 80% of revenue deployed · 98.1% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 6 of 6 board members independent · 3 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $1.3M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $92K · 6 people listed
- Consistency: 20 of 21 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 15 filing years from 2009 to 2024
- 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.
Grant-readiness screening is separate from the live rating, not a measure of program quality. Review the source records before making a grant decision.
- Moderate — Accountability: Governance controls: 5 of 8 not reported.
- High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 12/100.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
- High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 43/100.
- High — Grant Readiness: Federal audit findings: this organization reported findings in its latest federal Single Audit.