SOAR For Youth

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
264425202
IRS 990 coverage
2020–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Berkeley, CA, USA
Phone
5106320888
Rating
77
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Foster Care

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$717,410
Expenses
$628,533
Assets
$1,795,774
Liabilities
$17,765

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

Leadership & pay

8 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Diana Brown (Director/President & Chair)

People named in this filing

  • Diana Brown (Director/President & Chair)
  • Kem Robinson (Director/Treasurer)
  • Libby Colman (Director)

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

In community partnership with UC Berkeley, SOAR helps Bay Area foster youth aged 11-21 move through adolescence and into their adult lives with independence. We teach, coach, and counsel our young people in academics, leadership, life skills, and emotional intelligence. We provide them with activities that build trust, promote teamwork, and enhance self-esteem. The SOAR program aims to help our young people graduate from high school, attend college, and succeed in life with purpose.

What it reported doing in 2025

Summer Precollegiate Academics: In 2025 SOAR hosted five one-week residential Summer Academies on the UC Berkeley campus (Prepare To SOAR, Learn To SOAR, Time To SOAR, SOAR To College, and SOAR to Vocation). We selected a new cohort of 15 middle schooler to attend the Prepare To SOAR Academy and welcomed our program alumni to attend the SOAR To Vocation Academy which was launched in 2024 to provide opportunities and exposure to our youths who may not find themselves on a path to college degree. We adjusted our program offerings to match our youth's learning abilities. Several youths were not able to return to attend their Learn To SOAR or Time To SOAR Academies due to relocation, summer school, and personal reasons. So we were elated when three students who had not attended their Summer Academies for the last two or three years returned to attend their final Academy - SOAR To Your Future (Week one is SOAR To College and Week two SOAR To Vocation).All Academy participates (100%) said they would recommend SOAR to other foster youth. All of them also said that the knowledge and experience they gained at SOAR will help them achieve greater academic success and build their future.Forty Nine (49) foster youths (including Jr. Counselors) benefited from the life-changing Summer Pre-collegiate Academies we offered in 2025.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 93% 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.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 65
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 76
  • Sustainability: 67
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 70.1%; rating input score 70
  • Program expense ratio: 77.4%; rating input score 77
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

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; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 3 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 43
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • 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: 12.4%; rating input score 61; 61st percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.86; rating input score 74; 74th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.01; rating input score 60; 60th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 78; 78th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 14.7% per year; rating input score 100; 70th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 9.2% per year; rating input score 100; 58th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 15% per year; rating input score 100; 69th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 70.1% of revenue deployed · 77.4% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 8 of 8 board members independent · 3 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $486K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 8 people listed
  • Consistency: 22 of 22 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 6 filing years from 2020 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: Resolved incoming and outgoing counterparties from filed money flows.
  • 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.
  • Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • Moderate — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 6 not reported.