Scientific Adventures for Girls
Legal name: Scientific Adventures Dba Scientific Adventures for Girls
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 472414936
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2017–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2016, Form 990-N 2014
- Location
- Oakland, CA, USA
- Phone
- (510) 926-4089
- Rating
- 79
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Youth Development Programs
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $1,213,241
- Expenses
- $1,051,043
- Assets
- $1,048,937
- Liabilities
- $169,755
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
15 people listed
Highest reported compensation
- Courtenay Carr Heuer (Executive Dir.): $148,949 total reported compensation
- Amy Miller (Executive Dir.): $51,459 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
To remove systemic barriers to all girls’ participation in STEM throughout elementary education, engage them through hands-on learning, increase their positive attitudes toward STEM, and equip them with 21st century skills.
What it reported doing in 2024
For the 2024 - 2025 school year:- 830 girls participated in 27-week afterschool STEM programs at 23 schools- 5 In-Person Family STEAM Events: serving over 750 participants- 5 Summer Engineering Camps serving an estimated 394 girls and boys; 2 Spring Camps serving 135 students- 4 Female STEM professionals volunteered over 600 hours as in-person teaching assistants over 27 weeks- 50 Female STEM professionals participated in our Role Model program, visiting 1-2 schools each during each of 3 curriculum sessions (2 classes at each school) = 125 volunteer hours- 17 STEM high school students and SAfG graduates volunteered over 288 total hours as in-person assistants in SAfGs Fall, Winter and Spring sessions- 6 Teaching Assistants from Cal State East Bay and UC Berkeley assisted in SAfG Afterschool, Spring Break, Summer and Library programs
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 74% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- 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.
- Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.
The verdict
SUPPORTED - The filed numbers largely add up and a large share of available resources goes toward mission work. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 67
- Transparency & Controls: 92
- Accountability: 84
- Sustainability: 50
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 68%; rating input score 68
- Program expense ratio: 77.8%; rating input score 78
- Fundraising efficiency: $8.2 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 32; 32nd 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: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd 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: NotApplicable
- Other executive compensation review process: Fail
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Fail
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 13.4%; rating input score 67; 67th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1; rating input score 43; 43rd percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.16; rating input score 35; 35th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 19.1%; rating input score 16; 16th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 21% per year; rating input score 100; 84th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 22.9% per year; rating input score 100; 88th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 29.2% per year; rating input score 100; 90th 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% of revenue deployed · 77.8% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 13 of 13 board members independent · 5 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $817K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $149K · 15 people listed
- Consistency: 29 of 29 current checks pass
- Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 7 filing years from 2017 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.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 8 not reported.
- Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 32/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 43/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 16/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 35/100.