Mentors Driving Change for Boys Men and Dads

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
822506285
IRS 990 coverage
2024–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2023, Form 990-N 2018
Location
Freedom, CA, USA
Phone
8315887592
Rating
73
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Family Services for Adolescent Parents

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$238,062
Expenses
$200,995
Assets
$84,946
Liabilities
$0

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

Leadership & pay

8 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Deutron Kebebew (Executive Director)
  • Robert Allen (Board Member and President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Deutron Kebebew (Program Director/Group Facilitator): $82,499 total reported compensation
  • Deutron Kebebew (Executive Director): $31,997 total reported compensation
  • Dustin Pascal (Group fcailitator): $3,210 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

MENtors provides educational programs, supportive networks, system navigation, access to resources and services, and self-awareness groups for boys, young men, men, and fathers. Through a focus on social-emotional learning and the 41 Developmental Assets, we help participants strengthen their relationships with themselves, their families, and their communities while building confidence, resilience, accountability, communication skills, and a stronger sense of purpose. Our programs create safe and supportive spaces where participants can reflect on their lived experiences, develop healthy relationship skills, increase emotional awareness, access positive mentorship, and receive guidance navigating systems such as schools, child support, family court, child welfare, probation, workforce development, and community-based services. These supports help participants build the tools needed to thrive at home, in school, at work, and in the community.

What it reported doing in 2024

MENtors provides father involvement and co-parenting groups for fathers in Santa Cruz County who are involved with the Probation, Child Welfare, and Family Court systems. The program is designed to support fathers in strengthening their role as parents, improving their relationships with their children and co-parents, and increasing their ability to navigate complex systems that impact their families. Through weekly group sessions and individual consultations, fathers receive education, guidance, and practical tools related to fatherhood, parent-child relationships, co-parenting, communication, accountability, emotional awareness, and family engagement. The program creates a supportive and structured space where fathers can reflect on their experiences, identify barriers to healthy involvement, build parenting confidence, and develop skills that promote safety, stability, and connection within their families. In addition to group-based learning, MENtors provides individualized support to help fathers better understand expectations and requirements connected to probation, child welfare, family court, visitation, case plans, child support, and reunification or co-parenting goals. This system navigation support helps fathers stay informed, engaged, and proactive while working toward improved outcomes for themselves and their children. To date, the program has served more than 130 fathers. Of those served, 86% have demonstrated significant positive changes in behavior, attitude, and engagement with their children and families. These outcomes reflect the program's commitment to helping fathers move from isolation, confusion, or system involvement toward greater accountability, connection, and active participation in their children's lives.

Operating model

Revenue model
Grant-funded. 79% of the money available for current operations came from government grants.
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

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 total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 67
  • Transparency & Controls: 84
  • Accountability: 77
  • Sustainability: 48
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 70.6%; rating input score 71
  • Program expense ratio: 83.7%; rating input score 84
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 90%; rating input score 90; 9th 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: 4 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 44
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Fail
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 15.6%; rating input score 68; 68th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.42; rating input score 21; 21st percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 80; 80th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 59.7%; rating input score 2; 2nd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: Limited
  • Revenue growth: 24.3% per year; rating input score 100; 91st percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 12.5% per year; rating input score 100; 72nd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 70.6% of revenue deployed · 83.7% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 4 of 4 board members independent · 4 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $168K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $82K · 8 people listed
  • Consistency: 39 of 40 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 7 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
  • 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.

  • Moderate — Accountability: Governance controls: 4 of 8 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 21/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 2/100.