Seamless Bay Area Formerly Seamless Bay Area Action Fund

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
845085090
IRS 990 coverage
2021–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-N 2020
Location
San Francisco, CA, USA
Phone
4156121664
Rating
79
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Public Transportation Systems

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$337,941
Expenses
$361,938
Assets
$17,975
Liabilities
$3,977

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

Leadership & pay

9 people listed

Highest reported compensation

  • Ian Griffiths (Exec Director): $63,920 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Seamless Bay Area is primarily an advocate for legislative change at the local and state levels in California, but also conducts educational, research, and engagement activities.

What it reported doing in 2024

ADVOCACY and LOBBYINGThe Seamless Transit Principles have been developed by a coalition of non-profit groups to guide local, regional, and state decision-makers to pursue a seamlessly integrated, world-class transit system that works for people. The transit principles build off of the analysis and strategies identified in SPURs 2015 report, Seamless Transit.ENGAGEMENTSeamless Bay Area educates and engages MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC to promote BETTER TRANSIT PLANNING through events across the entire region.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 92% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
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 - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 75
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 83
  • Sustainability: 18
  • Growth: 80

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 81.7%; rating input score 82
  • Program expense ratio: 76.2%; rating input score 76
  • Fundraising efficiency: $9.13 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 37; 37th 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: 88.9%; rating input score 89; 24th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 6 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 75
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • 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: -7.1%; rating input score 26; 26th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.05; rating input score 4; 4th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.22; rating input score 19; 19th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 17.7%; rating input score 22; 22nd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 28.5% per year; rating input score 100; 90th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 18.7% per year; rating input score 100; 86th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -42.4% per year; rating input score 0; 1st percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 81.7% of revenue deployed · 76.2% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 8 of 9 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $276K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $64K · 9 people listed
  • Consistency: 27 of 27 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 4 filing years from 2021 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • Related organizations: 1 filed related-organization link
  • 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.

  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 37/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 26/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 4/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 19/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 22/100.