PICO California
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 872249221
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2022–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Los Angeles, CA, USA
- Phone
- 9164477959
- Rating
- 75
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Alliance/Advocacy
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $8,343,263
- Expenses
- $7,393,545
- Assets
- $18,374,049
- Liabilities
- $230,676
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
13 people listed
Highest reported compensation
- Joseph Mckellar (Executive Dir.): $259,589 total reported compensation
- Stephanie Gut (Dir. of Formation): $192,842 total reported compensation
- Edward Carmona (Campaigns Dir.): $184,216 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Our vision is a Moral Economy for California which includes structural campaigns that result in significant material improvements for the most vulnerable Californians: making affordable and dignified housing a human right, reducing the number of people incarcerated and increasing job and housing opportunities for those returning home, creating conditions for low-income workers to thrive in family-sustaining jobs, funding schools and communities more than law enforcement and prisons, ensuring inclusion of all immigrants and refugees, and creating a government that is effective in caring for all Californias.
What it reported doing in 2024
In 2024, PICO California organized a statewide, multi-racial, multi-faith movement to address racial and economic injustice across 18 counties. Through deep community relationships, the organization equipped and supported 16,155 grassroots faith and spiritual leaders who engaged 220,311 Californians in public life to build power and create change in their communities.Key accomplishments included: - Reached over 81,000 devout and diverse voters through relational outreach, voter education, and public events across every county, assembly, and senate district in California. - Held nonpartisan candidate forums and organized research meetings and public actions with local and state decision-makers. - Supported nearly 80 congregations working to develop affordable housing on land owned by faith institutions. - Educated renters and organized tenant leaders to protect families from displacement and ensure safe, dignified housing for low-income communities. - Organized campaigns that resulted in new local housing programs and protections for farmworker families and low-income residents. - Helped reduce gun violence through continued leadership in the Ceasefire Partnership and mobilized public support for sustained community-based safety efforts. - Organized restorative justice initiatives and community dialogues in response to incidents of police violence and systemic injustice. - Launched the Spiritual Home initiative to offer contemplative practices and community gatherings for faith-rooted leadership and moral formation, engaging over 500 participants in its first cycle. - Convened 160 staff, clergy, and community leaders for a statewide training and inaugurated the State Leadership Council, bringing together over 400 grassroots leaders and clergy to align strategy and vision. - Strengthened Californias organizing ecosystem by supporting peer organizations, developing collaborative infrastructure, and guiding multi-year funding to grassroots networks across the state.These accomplishments reflect PICO Californias commitment to organizing people of faith to transform systems, expand opportunity, and create a more just and compassionate society.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 91% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- Distribution model
- Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 76% for direct work, and 24% for grants.
The verdict
SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Revenue has declined or grown slowly and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 66
- Transparency & Controls: 83
- Accountability: 95
- Sustainability: 62
- Growth: 40
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 64.6%; rating input score 65
- Program expense ratio: 70.4%; rating input score 70
- Fundraising efficiency: $21.26 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 61; 61st percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
- Compensation committee: Missing
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
- Written employment contract: Missing
- Compensation survey or study: Pass
- Board or committee approval: Pass
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
- 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: 7 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 88
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: Limited
- Other executive compensation review process: Fail
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 11.4%; rating input score 65; 65th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.49; rating input score 69; 69th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.01; rating input score 84; 84th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 23.9%; rating input score 9; 9th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 21.7% per year; rating input score 100; 87th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: -58.5% per year; rating input score 0; 0th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: -8.2% per year; rating input score 0; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 64.6% of revenue deployed · 70.4% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 3 of 3 board members independent · 7 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $5.2M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $260K · 13 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 2 contractors listed · $642K reported
- Consistency: 31 of 31 current checks pass
- Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
- Filing history: 3 filing years from 2022 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 20 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 9 filed related-organization links
- 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.
- Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.
Key Signals
Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.
- High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Other executive compensation review process not reported.
- High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 9/100.