Soma West Community Benefit District
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 834557886
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2019–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-N 2018
- Location
- San Francisco, CA, USA
- Phone
- 4159607228
- Rating
- 84
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Community, Neighborhood Development
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $5,829,676
- Expenses
- $6,001,286
- Assets
- $4,839,564
- Liabilities
- $312,065
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
27 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Ryan Dick (President)
- Lisa Creed (Vice President)
- Alex Ludlum (Executive Director)
Highest reported compensation
- Christian Martin (Excecutive Director): $261,102 total reported compensation
- Matthew Allen (Deputy Director): $151,923 total reported compensation
- Brittany Bostic (Chief of Staff): $146,489 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
SOMA West Community Benefit Districts primary exempt purpose is to advance the common good, general welfare, and quality of life of all San Franciscans and visitors to San Francisco by enhancing environmental quality and beauty in the District, and... (continued on Schedule O)
What it reported doing in 2024
Clean, Safe, and Beautiful (7/1/24-6/30/25): SWCBDs Clean, Safe, and Dispatch Teams delivered measurable results through efficient, data-driven field operations. Clean Team: picked up 673,210 lbs. of trash; completed 112,012 sweeping; 73,134 hazardous; 66,954 code brown; 10,149 tree wells; 10,104 graffiti removals; and 4,799 pressure washing tasks - ensuring a clean and healthy public realm. Safety Team: Conducted 5,916 location checks; 2,426 loitering responses; 2,631 tent counts; 252 move-alongs; 457 sidewalk obstructions; 219 encampment contact; 182 disturbance interventions; 105 homeless responses maintaining visibility, outreach, and safety. Dispatch Team: Managed 3,923 calls and 2,307 service emails with an average handle time of 2m 56s, ensuring timely response and efficient resource deployment. Together, these teams demonstrated strong stewardship, community care, and measurable impact across SOMA West.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Earned-program. 99% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The filing allocates 99% 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 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: 79
- Transparency & Controls: 91
- Accountability: 95
- Sustainability: 31
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 90%; rating input score 90
- Program expense ratio: 87.5%; rating input score 87
- Fundraising efficiency: $1.03 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 3; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 5 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 83
- Compensation committee: Pass
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
- Written employment contract: Pass
- Compensation survey or study: Pass
- Board or committee approval: Pass
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd 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: Fail
- CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
- 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: -2.9%; rating input score 24; 24th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.81; rating input score 30; 30th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.06; rating input score 66; 66th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 11.6%; rating input score 25; 25th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 18.2% per year; rating input score 100; 83rd percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 8.1% per year; rating input score 100; 60th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 13.3% per year; rating input score 100; 70th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 90% of revenue deployed · 87.5% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 24 of 24 board members independent · 7 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $5.3M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $261K · 27 people listed · 5 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $663K reported
- Consistency: 35 of 35 current checks pass
- Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
- Filing history: 6 filing years from 2019 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 7 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 3 filed related-organization links
- 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 3/100.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 24/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Document-retention policy not reported.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 30/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 25/100.