Sfai Legacy Foundation and Archive

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
883940860
IRS 990 coverage
2024–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2023, Form 990-N 2022
Location
San Francisco, CA, USA
Phone
2022947434
Rating
82
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Historical Societies & Historic Preservation

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$399,344
Expenses
$213,963
Assets
$253,828
Liabilities
$0

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

6 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Charles DeSantis (President)

People named in this filing

  • Suzanne Greva (Treasurer)
  • Charles DeSantis (President)
  • Katie Morgan Hood (Secretary)

Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

The SFAI Legacy Foundation & Archive (SFAI LF&A) is an independent non-profit formed to protect sustain and carry forward the legacy of the San Francisco Art Institute - a legacy of bold experimental artistic practice and innovative scholarly inquiry The Foundation preserves and makes accessible to scholars and artists the SFAI archives an unparalleled collection of primary source material documenting the history of SFAI and the art of Northern California dating back to 1871

What it reported doing in 2025

The SFAI Legacy Foundation & Archive preserves and advances the legacy of the San Francisco Art Institute by maintaining and providing access to its historic archives documenting Northern California art since 1871 The organization supports scholars artists and the public through access to primary source materials and through public programs exhibitions and publications SFAI LF&A highlights the contributions of SFAI artists with special attention to underrecognized communities whose work has shaped the institution and the Bay Areas cultural landscape

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 85% 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

STRONG - A large share of total spending goes to programs and the filed numbers largely add up. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 73
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 82
  • Sustainability: 72
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 53.2%; rating input score 53
  • Program expense ratio: 99.3%; rating input score 99
  • Fundraising efficiency: $238.15 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 92; 92nd 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: 4 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 57
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • 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: 46.4%; rating input score 89; 89th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.19; rating input score 45; 45th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 77; 77th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 67; 67th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 18% per year; rating input score 100; 81st percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 56.8% per year; rating input score 100; 97th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 124.5% per year; rating input score 100; 99th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 53.2% of revenue deployed · 99.3% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 6 of 6 board members independent · 4 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $212K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 6 people listed
  • Consistency: 42 of 42 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 2 filing years from 2024 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 3 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
  • 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 — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 53/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 6 not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 45/100.