Monterey Fire Safe Council Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
752980732
IRS 990-EZ coverage
2012–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2013, Form 990-EZ 2024
Location
Monterey, CA, USA
Phone
8313332600
Rating
80
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Fire Prevention

Reported finances

Revenue
$150,115
Expenses
$144,595
Assets
$72,122
Liabilities
$6,453

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

Leadership & pay

7 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Richard Bates (President)
  • Jamie Tuitele-Lewis (Vice President)

People named in this filing

  • Richard Bates (President)
  • Michael Waxer (Director)
  • Michael Caplin (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

To provide education, implement and fund projects in accordance with National and California Fire Plans, mobilize citizens and agencies to reduce losses from wildfires, exchange information and foster fire prevention and fire safety within the County of Monterey.

What it reported doing in 2024

Program Service Accomplishments: The California Fire Safe Council with funding through the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE) supported a $175,000 County Coordinator program. The objective of the CAL FIRE County Coordinator Statewide Grant program is to educate, encourage, and develop county-wide collaboration and coordination among various wildfire mitigation groups. Counties received a one-time grant of $175,000 to cover administrative costs relevant to county-wide coordination efforts, including but not limited to the salary, support, and administrative costs for a designated County Coordinator. This project closed in December 2024. Monterey Peninsula Foundation awarded FSCMC $15,000 in 2024. FSCMC's focus was on taking preventative measures and implementing strategies to reduce the risk of wildfires before they occur. This is being achieved by educating communities about fire safety, evacuation plans, and defensible space around properties. This Foundation grant will be completed in June 2025. The Community Foundation for Monterey County awarded FSCMC $6,000 in 2024. This project supports the FSCMC with Organizational and Administrative Development to enhancement awareness, and promote active participation within the Firewise USA communities. FSCMC used this grant not only for emergency preparedness and response, but also to establish best practices for wildfire preparedness, defensible space, home hardening hints, neighbors helping neighbors assistance projects and promoting collaboration within the communities. This project will close in December 2025. Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) made the final payment in 2024 ($45,000) on the 2023 Roadside Chipping Grant which had been awarded in 2023 and completed in 2023, with the final payment to a contractor in 2024. This project was to support opening safer ingress/egress for community residents to access both private and public roads within the PG&E Right of Way. This project was supported by the local fire authority, Monterey County Regional Fire Protection District and services approximately 995 residents in the adjacent communities.

Operating model

Revenue model
Cannot be determined from the filing. The filing does not provide enough consistent revenue detail to tell how this nonprofit funds its work.
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. Program spending has declined or grown slowly and revenue has declined or grown slowly.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 91
  • Transparency & Controls: 82
  • Sustainability: 42
  • Growth: 0

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 89.7%; rating input score 90
  • Program expense ratio: 93.1%; rating input score 93

Transparency & Controls

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

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 3.7%; rating input score 44; 44th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.5; rating input score 38; 38th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.09; rating input score 25; 25th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 63; 63rd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -4% per year; rating input score 0; 21st percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -10% per year; rating input score 0; 5th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -0.1% per year; rating input score 0; 27th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 89.7% of revenue deployed · 93.1% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: Filed governance answers
  • Accomplishments: 1 filed program accomplishment · $135K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 7 people listed
  • Consistency: 7 of 7 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 10 filing years from 2012 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • 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.

  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 44/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 38/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 25/100.