Sierra Forever Families

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
680002878
IRS 990 coverage
2014–2018
Forms available
Form 990 2018
Location
Sacramento, CA, USA
Phone
9163685114
Rating
82
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Adoption

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$6,662,035
Expenses
$6,444,583
Assets
$8,377,568
Liabilities
$551,901

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2018. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

15 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • JIM ELDRIDGE (PRESIDENT PAST)
  • ROBERT BOB EARL (PRESIDENT)
  • LYNN THULL (INTERIM CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER)
  • ROBERT BOB HERNE (CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER)

Highest reported compensation

  • LYNN THULL (INTERIM CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER): $127,800 total reported compensation
  • ROBERT BOB HERNE (CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER): $69,033 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2018. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

To transform the lives of children in foster care by building and nurturing permanent families. We meet this mission by serving children 'living-in or 'at-risk' entering foster care and families wanting to provide permanency in twelve northern California counties.

What it reported doing in 2018

Therapeutic support services: the agency provides outpatient and community based permanency, competent mental health services to pre and post adoption, guardianship children and their families. The professional staff has consistently helped families to maintain and enhance the attachment and permanency for each child. The agency utilizes best practices such as parent child interaction therapy, dyadic developmental therapy and cognitive behavioral therapy. Sources of revenue include an early periodic screening diagnosis and treatment (epsdt) contract from sacramento county, Nevada county, and placer county. The program also relies on contributions.

Operating model

Revenue model
Cannot be determined from the filing. The filing does not provide enough consistent revenue detail to tell how this nonprofit funds its work.
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

STRONG - 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: 73
  • Transparency & Controls: 87
  • Accountability: 95
  • Sustainability: 55
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 80.4%; rating input score 80
  • Program expense ratio: 83.2%; rating input score 83
  • Fundraising efficiency: $3.02 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 11; 11th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 93.8%; rating input score 94; 17th 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: 7 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 88
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • 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: Fail
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 3.3%; rating input score 49; 49th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.3; rating input score 52; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.07; rating input score 71; 71st percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 3.1%; rating input score 67; 67th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 6.6% per year; rating input score 100; 58th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 4.5% per year; rating input score 100; 49th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 5.1% per year; rating input score 100; 50th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 80.4% of revenue deployed · 83.2% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 12 of 12 board members independent · 7 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 6 filed program accomplishments · $5.4M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $128K · 15 people listed
  • Consistency: 27 of 28 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 5 filing years from 2014 to 2018
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 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.

  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 11/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 49/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Audit committee oversight not reported.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 52/100.