Razing the Bar

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
800441705
IRS 990 coverage
2020–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-N 2017
Location
San Jose, CA, USA
Phone
4082108898
Rating
81
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Children's, Youth Services

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$1,483,653
Expenses
$1,330,612
Assets
$299,124
Liabilities
$4,137

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

Leadership & pay

9 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • DONTAE LARTIGUE (CEO/DIRECTOR)

Highest reported compensation

  • DONTAE LARTIGUE (CEO/DIRECTOR): $84,100 total reported compensation
  • MOLLY ORSBURN (TREASURER/OPERATIONS MANAG): $62,400 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Razing the bar believes that relationships are the key to successful youth development. Through mentorship and housing support, we help transition age youth (tay) achieve permanent connections and self-sufficiency.

What it reported doing in 2024

Through our permanent supportive community program, we provided housing and mentoring (case management) to 35 transitional age youth (tay) who receive housing, mentoring and a variety of supportive services (education, food, transportation, financial literacy) according to their needs. Tay establish their own goals and our mentors support them with progress and accountability. This program includes "scattered site housing" where rtb is the lessor and also includes the utilization of "housing choice vouchers" where youth can enter leases directly. This program is primarily funded via two contracts with the us department of housing and urban development (hud).

Operating model

Revenue model
Grant-funded. 74% of the money available for current operations came from government grants.
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. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 79
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 75
  • Sustainability: 44
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 77.4%; rating input score 77
  • Program expense ratio: 86.3%; rating input score 86
  • Fundraising efficiency: $27.32 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 66; 66th percentile among comparable filings

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: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 87.5%; rating input score 88; 21st percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 5 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 56
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: Pass
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 10.3%; rating input score 62; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.22; rating input score 10; 10th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.01; rating input score 66; 66th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 11%; rating input score 33; 33rd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 41.3% per year; rating input score 100; 94th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 40.4% per year; rating input score 100; 95th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 20% per year; rating input score 100; 81st percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 77.4% of revenue deployed · 86.3% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 7 of 8 board members independent · 5 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $1.1M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $84K · 9 people listed
  • Consistency: 20 of 20 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 5 filing years from 2020 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
  • 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.

  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 8 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 10/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 33/100.