SAY San Diego

Legal name: Social Advocates for Youth San Diego Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
237107958
IRS 990 coverage
2011–2024
Official website data refreshed
Sep 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
San Diego, CA, US
Phone
858-565-4148
Rating
79
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Children's, Youth Services

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$26,889,821
Expenses
$27,421,145
Assets
$12,064,929
Liabilities
$4,287,150

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

Leadership & pay

19 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • OMAR BAZA (2ND VICE PRESIDENT)
  • THERESA CARTER (PRESIDENT)
  • SARA HYZER (1ST VICE PRESIDENT)
  • LOUIE NGUYEN START 022025 (CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER)
  • NANCY GANNON HORNBERGER (CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER)

Highest reported compensation

  • NANCY GANNON HORNBERGER (CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER): $230,859 total reported compensation
  • JANE DROVER (CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER): $201,775 total reported compensation
  • KELLY VALES (VP, YOUTH, ADULT & FAMILY WELLNESS): $174,003 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

SAY San Diego is a dynamic nonprofit organization that strengthens the whole child, whole family and whole community by promoting opportunity, wellness, and access to services.

What it reported doing in 2024

Youth, adult & family wellness: say san diego promotes the wellness of youth, adults and families by working to keep families together, safe and healthy with programs addressing mental health, substance abuse prevention, child abuse prevention, foster and kinship family support, delinquency prevention, youth development and family self-sufficiency. Say san diego ensures the success of its clients by using proven and effective interventions including case management, behavioral health therapies, parenting classes, educational groups, access to basic services and healthcare, and employment support.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 93% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
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

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: 79
  • Accountability: 95
  • Sustainability: 26
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 83.4%; rating input score 83
  • Program expense ratio: 82.5%; rating input score 83
  • Fundraising efficiency: $2.59 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 9; 9th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Pass
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 90.9%; rating input score 91; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 9 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 100
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: Pass
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -2%; rating input score 23; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.44; rating input score 13; 13th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.36; rating input score 41; 41st percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 4.9%; rating input score 52; 52nd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 3.2% per year; rating input score 100; 27th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 3% per year; rating input score 100; 25th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 8.3% per year; rating input score 100; 56th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 7 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
  • Where the money goes: 83.4% of revenue deployed · 82.5% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 10 of 11 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $22.6M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $231K · 19 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 33 of 33 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 14 filing years from 2011 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 8 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.
  • 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.

  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 9/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 23/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 13/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 41/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 52/100.