Rancho Santa Fe Foundation

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
953709639
IRS 990 coverage
2011–2025
Official website data refreshed
Aug 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Encinitas, CA, US
Phone
(858) 756-6557
Rating
88
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Community Foundations

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$18,011,909
Expenses
$18,213,678
Assets
$205,922,857
Liabilities
$56,674,469

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

Leadership & pay

19 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • BEN MORAGA (PRESIDENT & CEO)

Highest reported compensation

  • BEN MORAGA (PRESIDENT & CEO): $307,292 total reported compensation
  • NICOLE TUBBS (VP OF FINANCE & OPERATIONS): $161,934 total reported compensation
  • AMY MYERS (DIR. OF PHILANTHROPY (LEFT 3/7/25)): $41,148 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

To connect donors with regional and global needs through visionary community leadership, personalized service and effective grant-making.

What it reported doing in 2025

Supporting our heroes (formerly the patriots connection,) a program of the rancho santa fe foundation, strives to raise the awareness of and provide funding for the needs of the military through nonprofit service providers in san diego county. San diego has the largest concentration of militrary active & retired personnel in the nation. In 2025, active duty, veterans and their dependents benefitted from grants to 5 different organizations for a total of $103,500.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 68% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Grant intermediary. The nonprofit sent 99% of its reported program spending out as grants.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

The verdict

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Expenses are high relative to revenue and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 94
  • Transparency & Controls: 80
  • Accountability: 95
  • Sustainability: 47
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 94.2%; rating input score 94
  • Fundraising efficiency: $32.34 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 67; 67th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 93.8%; rating input score 94; 19th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 95.3%; rating input score 95; 34th 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; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 8 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 89
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • 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: -1.1%; rating input score 17; 17th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 11.31; rating input score 86; 86th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.28; rating input score 43; 43rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 2.9%; rating input score 74; 74th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 9.4% per year; rating input score 100; 65th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 3.1% per year; rating input score 100; 24th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 8.2% per year; rating input score 100; 58th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 1 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 2 operating locations identified
  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 94.2% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 15 of 15 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $17.2M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $307K · 19 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 36 of 37 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 15 filing years from 2011 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 203 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 200 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.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 17/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Other executive compensation review process not reported.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 43/100.