Secure Our Schools Foundation
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 882805876
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2025–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2024, Form 990-N 2023
- Location
- Newport Beach, CA, USA
- Phone
- 7147688274
- Rating
- 56
- Verdict
- MIXED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Delinquency Prevention
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $129,745
- Expenses
- $161,956
- Assets
- $22,824
- Liabilities
- $0
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
6 people listed
Highest reported compensation
- Nicholas Salis (Director): $137,500 total reported compensation
- Kathern Schweit (Director): $1,500 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
The Secure Our Schools Foundation supports school districts and individual K-12 school sites through advice, training, and technical systems as required to improve their safety and security. The Foundation will provide their primary benefits by supporting the on-site school staff to be more efficient and effective in responding to unplanned events.
What it reported doing in 2025
2. Santa Ana Unified School District Resilient Schools Initiative - SAUSD - November 2025 Worked with the Santa Ana Unified School District to create the Resilient Schools Initiative - Santa Ana, a comprehensive district-wide school safety program. Additinally, provided Santa Ana Unified School District with grant writing and applicatin assistance for the BJA FY25 Students, Teachers, and Officers Prevention (STOP) School Violence Program
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 100% 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.
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: 18
- Transparency & Controls: 92
- Accountability: 90
- Sustainability: 16
- Growth: 40
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 21.2%; rating input score 21
- Program expense ratio: 17%; rating input score 17
- Fundraising efficiency: $0.96 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 6; 6th 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: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 6 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 75
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Fail
- Document-retention policy: Fail
- CEO compensation review process: Pass
- Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -24.8%; rating input score 9; 9th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.14; rating input score 9; 9th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 77; 77th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 85.8%; rating input score 0; 0th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: Limited
- Revenue growth: 80.9% per year; rating input score 100; 99th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: -82.7% per year; rating input score 0; 0th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 21.2% of revenue deployed · 17% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 6 of 6 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $28K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $138K · 6 people listed
- Highest-paid contractors: 1 contractor listed · $138K reported
- Consistency: 40 of 40 current checks pass
- Schedules: 3 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 2 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: Mission deployment rate scored 21/100.
- High — Financial Efficiency: Program expense ratio scored 17/100.
- High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 6/100.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 9/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 8 not reported.
- High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 9/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 0/100.