San Diego Fire Relief Association
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 956050121
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2010–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025
- Location
- San Diego, CA, USA
- Phone
- 7607290554
- Rating
- 53
- Verdict
- MIXED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $1,284,239
- Expenses
- $924,751
- Assets
- $3,862,842
- Liabilities
- $34,905
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
14 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- SARA BERNS (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)
- BRANDT TRUVER (President)
- JOE KENNEDY (Vice President)
Highest reported compensation
- SARA BERNS (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $143,131 total reported compensation
- BRANDT TRUVER (President): $4,800 total reported compensation
- JOHN BURBAKER (Treasurer): $4,800 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 bind the members together in a closer bond of fraternity for mutual protection, to assist members and their families in sickness, distress, and death, and to promote and improve social relations and welfare among the members.
What it reported doing in 2025
Provide assistance to active and retired firefighters and their families, from the san diego area, during times of distress and hardship, assistance provided includes death benefits, life and accident benefits, supplementing health insurance and providing practical resources, referrals, peer mentoring and supportive care for widows, orphans and parents.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Membership-supported. 85% of the money available for current operations came from membership dues.
- Distribution model
- Cannot be determined from the filing. The filing does not provide enough consistent spending detail to tell whether the nonprofit works directly or through others.
The verdict
MIXED - The filed numbers largely add up and most voting board members are independent. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and a relatively small share of total spending goes to programs.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 0
- Transparency & Controls: 100
- Accountability: 82
- Sustainability: 71
- Growth: 60
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 0%; rating input score 0
- Program expense ratio: 0%; rating input score 0
- 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: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th 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: 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: Missing
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 28%; rating input score 80; 80th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 4.18; rating input score 81; 81st percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.01; rating input score 61; 61st percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 19.4%; rating input score 17; 17th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: -15% per year; rating input score 0; 4th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 3% per year; rating input score 100; 25th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 6.6% per year; rating input score 100; 42nd percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 0% of revenue deployed · 0% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 10 of 10 board members independent · 5 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment
- Leadership: top reported pay $143K · 14 people listed
- Consistency: 13 of 14 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 4 filed schedules
- Filing history: 14 filing years from 2010 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 10 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 2 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 — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 0/100.
- High — Financial Efficiency: Program expense ratio scored 0/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 8 not reported.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Functional expense sum did not reconcile in the filed values.
- High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 17/100.