North County Connection

What it reported doing in 2024

MEETING ROOMS: We maintain 3 meeting rooms, a childcare room, private and conference rooms for peer supportive services and rooms for sober socialization. These rooms are used by local 12-step groups including AA, NA, SAA, OA, DRA, Al-Anon, Alateen, and CoDA. We recently added SMART Recovery meetings for individuals seeking an alternative to 12-step groups. There are over 18 meetings per week, 52 weeks per year, with average monthly meeting attendance of 1,200, or nearly 15,000 per year. More than 300 regular attendees have children under 18, thus reducing incidences of child abuse, as their parents are seeking support for their clean and sober lifestyle. Of the regular meeting attendees only 52 persons per month are mandated to attend meetings under a court order. This shows that our recovery participants are members of the local community who are voluntarily participating in our programs, and are truly dedicated to attaining and preserving their clean and sober lifestyle. We provide a children's playroom to encourage the parents and to provide a safe, fun and healthy family environment for the children, many of whom have experienced a lot of trauma. The facility is also used on holidays for sober events, when our kitchen allows participants to share meals and fellowship. We average 100+ persons for Thanksgiving and 60+ for Christmas. We are open all day on Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years, when people in recovery are especially vulnerable to relapse. We also host various other potluck meals during the year and have facilitated weddings and celebrations of life events for members. Isolation and loneliness are major predictors of relapse and peer support is the antidote.

Financial Efficiency

• Mission deployment rate: 85.4%; rating input score 85
• Program expense ratio: 99%; rating input score 99
• Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

• Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
• Pay-setting controls: Limited
• Foreign activity oversight: Limited
• Grant itemization coverage: Limited
• Major donor itemization: Limited
• Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

• Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
• Governance controls: 2 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 29
  • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
  • Whistleblower policy: Fail
  • Document-retention policy: Fail
  • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
  • 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: 13.7%; rating input score 66; 66th percentile among comparable filings
• Total-asset coverage ratio: 4.86; rating input score 79; 79th percentile among comparable filings
• Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.59; rating input score 9; 9th percentile among comparable filings
• Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 69; 69th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

• Program expense growth: 7.1% per year; rating input score 100; 61st percentile among comparable filings
• Revenue growth: 5.9% per year; rating input score 100; 57th percentile among comparable filings
• Asset growth: 1.3% per year; rating input score 100; 30th percentile among comparable filings