Safe Passages
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 204535835
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2009–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Oakland, CA, USA
- Phone
- (510) 273-2060
- Rating
- 84
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Delinquency Prevention
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $27,038,677
- Expenses
- $19,844,503
- Assets
- $25,943,446
- Liabilities
- $9,404,202
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
17 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- JOSEFINA ALVARADO MENA (CEO)
Highest reported compensation
- JOSEFINA ALVARADO MENA (CEO): $351,717 total reported compensation
- ALICIA PEREZ (LEGISLATIVE DIRECTOR): $255,921 total reported compensation
- KIMIKO TAHARA (OPERATION AND SYSTEMS INTERGRATION): $200,193 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Safe Passages disrupts the cycle of poverty by engaging youth and families to build a safe and vibrant community.
What it reported doing in 2024
Safe passages provides educational and support programs for children and families. Programs are provided on a continuum for children and youthbirth through college and career including parenting classes, early childhood development services, behavioral hearlthservices, youth development, life coaching, and workforce development programs and services.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Grant-funded. 85% 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. Total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown and some filed totals do not add up.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 79
- Transparency & Controls: 85
- Accountability: 95
- Sustainability: 63
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 68.8%; rating input score 69
- Program expense ratio: 93.7%; rating input score 94
- Fundraising efficiency: $96.08 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 84; 84th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 92.9%; rating input score 93; 10th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 5 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 83
- Compensation committee: Pass
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
- Written employment contract: Pass
- Compensation survey or study: Pass
- Board or committee approval: Pass
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: Limited
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 90.9%; rating input score 91; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 9 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 100
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- 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: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 26.6%; rating input score 86; 86th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.31; rating input score 46; 46th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.36; rating input score 40; 40th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 7.4%; rating input score 33; 33rd percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 17.9% per year; rating input score 100; 87th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 11.4% per year; rating input score 100; 79th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 16.8% per year; rating input score 100; 84th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 5 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
- Where the money goes: 68.8% of revenue deployed · 93.7% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 10 of 11 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $18.6M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $352K · 17 people listed · 5 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $7.8M reported
- Consistency: 25 of 28 current checks pass · 3 findings to review
- Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
- Filing history: 16 filing years from 2009 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 7 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
- 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.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 46/100.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule D expense reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule D revenue reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 33/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 40/100.