Merced Organizing Project

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
271298934
IRS 990 coverage
2011–2016
Forms available
Form 990 2016
Location
Merced, CA, USA
Phone
2092612358
Rating
81
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Community, Neighborhood Development
Affiliation
Interfaith

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$217,381
Expenses
$284,510
Assets
$215,554
Liabilities
$182,797

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2016. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

6 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Liliana Prado (President)
  • Tsia Xiong (Executive Director)

Highest reported compensation

  • Tsia Xiong (Executive Director): $65,000 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2016. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Merced Organizing Project is a multi-culture and multi-faith-based, grassroots community organization, whose mission is to develop, equip, and transform community and congregations to actively engage in the public arena to improve their community. The organization's mission is to build the leadership capacity of ordinary people, empowering them to have a voice in the public arena. MOP's grassroots volunteer leaders are strengthening public schools, improving healthcare access for low income people, improving neighborhood safety, ensuring more affordable housing and jobs, and advancing immigrant rights.

What it reported doing in 2016

Merced Organizing Project worked to develop, equip, and transform community and congregations to actively engage in the public arena to improve their community.

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 - 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 expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 85
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 69
  • Sustainability: 18
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 86.6%; rating input score 87
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd 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: 2 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 25
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: Fail
    • 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: -30.9%; rating input score 9; 9th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.76; rating input score 36; 36th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.85; rating input score 8; 8th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 22.8%; rating input score 17; 17th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 17% per year; rating input score 100; 82nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 4.6% per year; rating input score 100; 58th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 13.5% per year; rating input score 100; 77th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 86.6% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 5 of 5 board members independent · 2 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $246K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $65K · 6 people listed
  • Consistency: 25 of 25 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 6 filing years from 2011 to 2016
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • 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: Governance controls: 5 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 9/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 36/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 8/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 17/100.