Monterey Bay Dart
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 832731549
- IRS 990-EZ coverage
- 2019–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990-EZ 2024, Form 990-N 2021
- Location
- Santa Cruz, CA, USA
- Phone
- 8312001969
- Rating
- 65
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Engineering and Technology
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $38,421
- Expenses
- $53,123
- Assets
- $2,454
- Liabilities
- $4,406
Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
5 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Cody Cleverly (President)
- Chris Bley (Vice President and Treasurer)
- Josh Metz (Executive Director)
People named in this filing
- Cody Cleverly (President)
- Chris Bley (Vice President and Treasurer)
- Michael Matkin (Director)
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 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Drone, Aviation, and Robotics Technology (DART) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing Uncrewed Aircraft Systems (UAS) and Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) to support quality job growth and community vitality. DART's mission is to help catalyze the emerging Low Altitude Economy-the rapidly growing sector of drones and new classes of aircraft operating below 5,000 feet such as electric vertical tack-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft-so that individuals and communities can benefit both from the services these technologies provide and from the meaningful career pathways they create.
What it reported doing in 2024
DART's regional leadership grew in 2024: DART, the Monterey Bay Economic Partnership, and UC Santa Cruz co-founded the Monterey Bay Tech Hub; DART expanded engagement with the Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz) and contributed to California's response to the FAA's Center for Advanced Aviation Technology RFI; and DART completed three foundational workforce studies: the Regional Workforce Training Center Feasibility Study, the Monterey Bay Emerging Technology Workforce Skills Demand Study, and the SOAR Advanced Air Mobility Readiness Assessment. DART also published the AMAP Case Study with Joby Aviation and Talent Rewire to support scalable apprenticeship models, and saw policy momentum follow in the form of SB 800 (tax incentives for electric aviation manufacturing) and a $9.8 million CalCompetes Award enabling Joby to expand its Marina Airport facility into a 250,000-square-foot site projected to create 690 statewide jobs, including over 400 in Marina. DART's Executive Director was appointed to a two-year term on the Monterey County Workforce Development Board.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Earned-program. 87% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
- 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 - The filed numbers largely add up and revenue has grown recently. A relatively small share of total spending goes to programs and program spending has declined or grown slowly.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 56
- Transparency & Controls: 82
- Sustainability: 17
- Growth: 60
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 62.3%; rating input score 62
- Program expense ratio: 45.1%; rating input score 45
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Limited
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -38.3%; rating input score 16; 16th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.05; rating input score 8; 8th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 1.8; rating input score 3; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 56; 56th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: -7.5% per year; rating input score 0; 31st percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 1.2% per year; rating input score 100; 57th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 5.8% per year; rating input score 100; 61st percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 62.3% of revenue deployed · 45.1% of spending went to programs
- Governance: Filed governance answers
- Accomplishments: 5 filed program accomplishments · $24K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 5 people listed
- Consistency: 9 of 9 current checks pass
- Schedules: 2 filed schedules
- Filing history: 4 filing years from 2019 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: Resolved incoming and outgoing counterparties from filed money flows.
- 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 — Financial Efficiency: Program expense ratio scored 45/100.
- High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 16/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 8/100.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 3/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 56/100.