Petaluma Lodging Association

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
832830121
IRS 990 coverage
2022–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Petaluma, CA, USA
Phone
7072916956
Rating
69
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Chambers of Commerce & Business Leagues

Reported finances

Revenue
$671,235
Expenses
$671,513
Assets
$85,924
Liabilities
$0

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

5 people listed

People named in this filing

  • MAX CHILDS (VICE Chair)
  • CARLA PORTILLO (Secretary)
  • AIONA KAUFUSI (Treasurer)

Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

The purpose of petaluma lodging association is to improve business conditions and the business environment for tourism in the city of petaluma through the development of a tourism improvement district and other initiatives.

What it reported doing in 2025

In January 2019, the City of Petaluma approved the establishment of a Petaluma Tourism Improvement District (PTID) which is an assessment district that includes all lodging businesses within the city boundaries. The annual assessment rate is 2 percent of gross short-term room rental revenues and provides benefits to the payors including funding of marketing and sales promotion efforts. The PTID has a five year life.There are many benefits to the PTID: It is designed, created and governed by those who pay the assessment.It provides a long-term funding source for tourism promotion.Funds cannot be diverted to general government programs.Funds allow for a wide range of services.The PTID Management District Plan calls for the PTID to contract with an owners association which is the Petaluma Lodging Association (PLA), a non-profit corporation. The PLA has contracted with the Petaluma Downtown Association to manage the overall non-local destination tourist promotion and marketing activities for the Petaluma Visitors Program.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 100% 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 - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. A relatively small share of voting board members are independent and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 88
  • Transparency & Controls: 90
  • Accountability: 0
  • Sustainability: 36
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 99%; rating input score 99
  • Program expense ratio: 98.9%; rating input score 99
  • 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: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 0%; rating input score 0; 6th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 0 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 0
    • 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: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Fail
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -0%; rating input score 30; 30th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.13; rating input score 7; 7th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 88; 88th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 78; 78th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 2% per year; rating input score 100; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 1.1% per year; rating input score 100; 15th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 23.6% per year; rating input score 100; 84th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 99% of revenue deployed · 98.9% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 0 of 5 board members independent · 0 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $664K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 5 people listed
  • Consistency: 15 of 15 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 1 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 4 filing years from 2022 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • 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: Independent voting board scored 0/100.
  • High — Accountability: Governance controls: 6 of 6 not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 30/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 7/100.