San Francisco Rock Project

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
272816197
IRS 990 coverage
2011–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2023
Location
San Francisco, CA, USA
Phone
4154957625
Rating
68
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Professional Societies, Associations

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$217,592
Expenses
$203,933
Assets
$23,839
Liabilities
$15,540

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

Leadership & pay

5 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Matthew Shartsis (President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Matthew Shartsis (President): $45,000 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 mission is to teach the fundamentals of music in an accessible way to all ages and backgrounds, and inspire creativity and collaboration in a dynamic and supportive environment through live performance.

What it reported doing in 2024

Summer Camps! Our summer camps were our best we've had since the pandemic. Nearly full across 5 full weeks of camp. Each of the camps produced a LIVE PERFORMANCE at a local community venue, free of charge and open to the public. 1:1 Lessons - Our 1:1 Lessons programs, both on and off site were resurgent in 2024. With a significant increase in adult student signups, and generally full schedules in our off site 1:1 lessons programs, we hope this trajectory continues. Access SFUSD x Rock Project collaboration. We contracted with SFUSD's The Arc program for students on the spectrum. This program produced 2x live performance productions in public spaces; both shows benefiting the San Francisco Unified School District. We served 10 youths with disabilities for 4 months with weekly group sessions all culminating in live performances at the end of the season. We plan to continue this program in following years.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 73% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 99% 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

SUPPORTED - The filed numbers largely add up and a large share of available resources goes toward mission work. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 65
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 65
  • Sustainability: 30
  • Growth: 0

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 70%; rating input score 70
  • Program expense ratio: 74.7%; rating input score 75
  • Fundraising efficiency: $2.65 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 12; 12th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th 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: 66.7%; rating input score 67; 18th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 5 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 62
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Fail
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 6.3%; rating input score 53; 53rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.12; rating input score 7; 7th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.65; rating input score 9; 9th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 22.1%; rating input score 17; 17th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -3% per year; rating input score 0; 21st percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -0.7% per year; rating input score 0; 21st percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -4% per year; rating input score 0; 12th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 70% of revenue deployed · 74.7% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 2 of 3 board members independent · 5 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $152K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $45K · 5 people listed
  • Consistency: 23 of 23 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 11 filing years from 2011 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 4 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.

Key Signals

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

  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 12/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 7/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 53/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 9/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 17/100.